


What Does The Future Hold?

by Silver_Platinum



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dad Keith, Dad Lance, Fluff, Galra Keith, Gay Keith, Getting Together, Happy Family, Keith is surprisingly good with kids too, Kid - Freeform, Klance parents, Lance is surprised, M/M, Rating is because there's some swearing, bi lance, klance parents au, lance is great with kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Platinum/pseuds/Silver_Platinum
Summary: "It's a little kid, Mullet" Lance responded annoyed."I know it's a kid! But why in here?" Keith asked looking at the young creature.On a mission to liberate a planet from the Galra, Keith and Lance find an abandoned alien kid. Now it's their job to take care of it and find a new family for the small child, or maybe... they already found it?.





	1. Don't be scared

Today's mission was to make sure a planet that the team liberated long ago, planet Manethia, was totally free from Galra, just a simple rutine mission for making sure everything was okay. The planet was very similar to earth, but it had strange colored water and plants. The habitants were also a bit similar to humans, except that their ears were even more pointy than Alteans and they had exotic colored hairs and eyes.

"Ok team, will divide and start looking around the planet for any Galra base or prisioners" Shiro indicated "Hunk, Pidge, with me. Lance and Keith go to the south".

Lance pointed Keith annoyed "Uuugh!, seriously?, again with this guy?".

Shiro nodded "You make a really good team, so take this as a bonding moment between the two of you".

"Don't expect Lance to remember" Keith said with his arms crossed.

"You're seriously bringing this up again!?".

"It's the truth!" Keith got close to Lance on a offensive stance.

"Could you just let it go already!?" He pushed Keith backwards.

Shiro reacted quickly and separate them "Enough!" He gave a very mad expression to the boys "Focus on completing you mission!".

Keith got back to cross his arms and Lance rolled his eyes "Whatever...".

Pidge and Hunk stayed in silence contemplating the scene, Hunk gave a poke to Pidge with his elbow and murmured to her ear "Thank God we're on the calm team".

Pidge nodded and pushed her glasses up "So... should we get going?".

"Yes, we should" Shiro ordered looking at Lance and Keith like he was warning something with his eyes.

Keith sighed and started walking to the direction Shiro indicated. Lance followed him a few steps behind with his bayard in hand.

The two paladins reached a point where they couldn't see the other paladins anymore, just the two of them... alone... probably lost.

"Where are you taking us?" Lance asked while looking at his surroundings. They were on some kind of desert but the sand was totally white like snow, they were some blue threes that made the place look like out of a child's book.

"I'm just walking around the place" Keith answered and took out his bayard "We should be on our guard, we're on an open space, so we are totally visible to the eyes of the enemy".

"Hold on!" Lance stopped walking and Keith faced him "You're not only saying that you don't know where we are going, but also that we are unprotected!?".

"Then you lead!" Keith snapped "I wasn't even leading us in the first place, you started following me!" He said pointing him.

"It's not like I had another option!, you just started walking and I thought you knew where you were fucking going!".

Keith gave a deep breath "Like I said. You. Lead".

"Okay!, then follow me" Lance ordered and walked pass Keith to be on the lead.

Keith rolled his eyes and just followed Lance, not trusting a bit that he knew what he was doing.

 

<><><>

 

Meanwhile on the calm team...

"I have to ask this" Hunk started "Am I the only one that's super curious if Lance and Keith already killed each other?".

Pidge snorted "I bet they're dead already".

Shiro far beyond them, was talking through the comms with Allura and Coran, totally focused on the mission.

"Okay, Okay, but the real question is... who killed each other first?" Hunk asked.

"Hmm" Pidge stopped walking and looked to the sky, really thinking her answer "I bet Keith, he has a very short temper".

"Yeah?, I'm more for Lance, he was very annoyed for having to go with Keith" Hunk added.

Shiro walked towards them with a worried expression "Are you okay?, you were falling behind".

"We're okay" Pidge assured "We were just discussing who would kill the other one first, Keith or Lance?".

"I said Lance and Pidge said Keith, so we're on a tie" Hunk pointed "Who do you think?".

Shiro laugh "Sincerly, I think Keith, he can be pretty savage if you provoque him".

"Ha!, told ya".

"Yeah okay, but Lance is not gonna be happy when he know's that".

"Who says we're gonna tell them?" Pidge said still laughing.

"We should continue" Shiro pointed and continued walking through the woods.

"Ok, but just another question, Klance or Laith?" Pidge asked with a playful smile.

"Again with the shipping names?" Shiro asked with the typical dad tone.

"Uh!, that's a good one!" Hunk added "I say Klance".

"Diddo" Pidge said with a grin "How about you Shiro?".

Shiro sighed "Let's just continue with the mission".

 

 <><><>

 

"So then, the cute cashier was like: so... are you single?, and I said: oh nena, it's your lucky day..." Lance rambled.

"Lance, I couldn't care any less about your romantic experiences" Keith said clearly  annoyed by Lance's tale.

"What?, jelly?".

"Oh yeah, super jealous!" Keith answered with a big sarcastic tone.

"Ok, then tell me about yours, any girlfriend that I don't know about?" Lance asked.

Keith stopped and blushed a little bit "I'm not really into girls".

Lance mouth dropped but then it turned into a smile, he walked towards him and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder "Hey, that's cool. I'm into guys too" He smiled "Bi and proud".

Keith leaned against a big boulder "Bi and proud?".

"I date guys too man, I don't regret a thing".

Keith actually let out a little laugh "You're such a clown".

"Say whatever you want 80's rebel boy with a mullet" Lance looked at the sky, the sun was starting to hide "I wonder what time is it?".

The red paladin looked at the sun "I can't tell, this is not earth".

"Good point" He sighed "Have you seen any sign of the Galra?".

"No, maybe they left when they heard we were coming again, we liberated this planet a couple of week ago after all".

"Then we should call the..." A sound interrumpted their conversation, someone was watching them.

"Someone is watching us" Keith murmured and took out his sword and shield.

Lance imitated the action and followed Keith to the direction where the sound came from.

Suddenly a Galra soldier came out of a cave and started shooting, Lance covered with his shield and tried to shoot the Galra. Keith tried to get closer to attack him but suddenly he froze in the place, eyes wide and barely registering what was happening. Lance finally shot the Galra on the head and this one fell to the ground with a thud.

"Stupid robotic soldiers" He murmured and walked to Keith "Hey, you okay?".

Keith didn't answered and storm inside the cave. 

"Keith!" Lance followed him inside the mysterious place.

The deeper he walked, the darker it get. His suit lights turn on automatically and illuminated a little bit the cave, enough for him to watch where he was going.

"Keith?" He asked again, his voice echoing. He lost track of Keith "Shit..." Lance continued walking, his weapon ready in case that something happened.

"Lance!" Keith shouted through the comms and startled Lance.

"Jesus man!, where the hell are you?".

"I need your help, come over here" Keith ordered "Keep walking straight and when you find a fork, take the road on the left".

"Ok, I'll be there on a second, are you okay?".

"Yeah, I'm okay".

Lance started running on the direction Keith indicated: straight and left. 'Where's Keith?' He thought worried until he saw a blue light coming from a little more far away. 

When he arrived, the first thing he saw was a dark figure crumbled on the floor.

"Ah... are you okay?" Lance asked Keith without taking his eye off the figure.

Keith shush him with his finger and pointed at the dark figure.

Lance got closer, slowly he touched the dark mass and it started shaking "Hey, are you okay?" He asked.

The figure moved a little, revealing to be a little girl with a really big black cape covering all of her body, Lance barely saw her face with the poor light and the cloth "It's okay, we're not going to harm you" He assured and the girl got even more covered.

Lance stood up and went to Keith "It think she's scared".

"Why?" He asked.

"It's a little kid, Mullet" Lance responded annoyed.

"I know it's a kid!, but why in here?" Keith asked looking at the young creature.

 _"Keith, Lance, you there?"_ Shiro asked through the comms.

 _"_ We're here Shiro, but we have a little..." Lance saw the girl again "Situation".

_"Everything Okay?"._

"Yeah, don't worry, will explain in the castle".

 _"Copied, see you in there"_ Shiro said cutting the communication.

Keith knelt down next to the girl and touched her softly on what appeared to be her head "Hi, I'm Keith" The girl looked at him briefly "That's Lance" He pointed and the girl looked to his direction "We're paladins of Voltron, we're here to help you".

"T-they took m-my family" She murmured with her voice breaking.

Keith looked at Lance.

Lance got closer and knelt down with them "Will find them, but you have to come with us" He offered his hand to the girl.

She looked at his hand with a lot of doubt, Lance smiled at her and in someway that made her trust him, she took his hand and got up from the floor.

"There we go" The girl squished Lance hand, she was so small, barely even reaching his waist "What's your name beautiful?".

The girl still looked scared "I-it's Rae".

"What a beautiful name!".

Keith looked at them with a smile "I'll go outside and call Red" With that he storm off the place, leaving Lance alone with Rae.

Lance walked with the little girl slowly to the exit "You like lions?".

"What's that?" She asked still squishing Lance hand.

"You'll see, don't worry, i bet you'll love them" He said "They're very popular with the ladies".

The girl laughed a bit, she had the cutest smile Lance ever saw. The floor trembled under them, Red was here.

Rae hugged Lance when she heard the roar and burrowed her face in his leg.

"Shh, it's okay, that's Red, she's not going to harm you" Lance reassured and lift the little girl, placing her in his shoulders "We better hurry up, Keith can be very impatient.

When they finally reached the exit of the cave, Rae looked astonished at the gigantic robotic red lion in front of her. The lion lowered her head to observe the girl better.

Keith noticed the action and told Red mentally to be nice, the lion obeyed her paladin and purred. Lance placed her on the floor and she touched with her small hand Red's nose. Both paladins couldn't help but to smile.

Lance observed the girl, she was probably around 8 or 10 years old, she had a beautiful long red hair and big blue eyes that matched perfectly with her pale skin tone and freckles, the cape was a little over sized but he guessed that it wasn't even hers, probably of her father or mother.

"We should head back and start searching for her family" Keith suggested.

"Yeah..." Lance had only been a few minutes with the girl and he already loved her, she really reminded him of his little niece, Maria, the cutest little girl he ever met. Probably the thing that he loved the most was that Rae reminded him not only of his family, but also his home.

 

<><><>

 

The red lion landed on the hangar and opened her mouth, everyone was already waiting outside for the red and blue paladin, but what they weren't expecting was the little alien girl.

Lance walked down the ramp holding Rae's hand "Everyone, this is Rae" He announced and the girl got behind his leg.

Allura gave her a sweet smile and got close to her "Hi Rae, I'm princess Allura" She introduced herself and turn to the team "This are my friends: Shiro, Hunk, Pidge and Coran".

Rae seemed extremely nervous, no one blamed her, she was probably scared of being away of her family and being taken to so many new people she didn't knew.

"You shouldn't be scared of them" Keith added and everyone, including Rae, looked at him expectantly "They're probably the sweetest people you'll ever know" He got beside her, kneeling to be at her size "She's Allura" He pointed "Not only she has an awesome castle, but she also is probably the most badass princess you'll know in your life, also she speaks with mice and has amazing powers".

Rae looked at Allura like she was a goddess and then turned back to Keith.

"The black one with the cool robotic arm is Shiro" He pointed "Don't let yourself be intimidated by his scar and his arm, he's a total softy and a great leader, always willing to help you on every situation".

Shiro smiled, clearly proud of how was Keith handling the things with the little girl, everyone was kind of surprised.

"The yellow one is Hunk" He pointed "He's an awesome chef, he'll be happy to cook you any meal you like and also, let's not forget, how smart and sweet he is".

Hunk seemed at the verge of tears, Keith was actually complimenting all of them.

Rae laughed and looked at Keith pleading with her eyes to hear more.

"The green one is Pidge, she's amazing with technology, loyal and incredibly good making pony tails" He pointed and Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose hiding a little blush.

"Then we have Coran" He pointed with the head "He's the awesome, super smart, royal advisor" He said, Coran had a big smile on his face "And also he has a great mustache".

"Indeed I do!" Coran pointed playing with his mustache.

Keith looked at Lance, who was smiling at the words that came out of his mouth "And this is Lance..." He started "He's annoying and is probably the most narcissistic person I've ever met".

"Hey!" Lance shouted annoyed.

"But" Keith continued "He's smart, kinds and always, somehow, he makes all smile even in the most difficult times..." He smiled "Oh!, and he's the sharpshooter of the team".

Lance couldn't help to smile and even blush a little, Rae hugged his leg with a big smile in all her face "And you?".

"Me?" Keith asked "I'm not that interesting, I'm just the loner guy with a sword of the group" He answered "And the hot-headed like everyone says".

"I think you're cute" Rae said and patted his head softly "And you have pretty eyes".

Keith smiled and stood up "We should start thinking of the next plan" He said pointing discreetly at Rae.

"Right, Lance, could you show Rae the spare bedroom we have?" Allura commanded.

Lance nodded "As you wish" He guided the girl out of the hangar.

 

<><><>

 

"Where did you found her?" Shiro asked Keith.

"I saw her running inside of a cave and I followed her" He answered "She said that they had taken her family".

Allura appeared a map that showed the Galra ships with prisioners along the galaxy "This are all the Galra ships with prisioners".

"There's way too many" Hunk pointed.

"My brother and the rebels are liberating them, but still, there's too many" Pidge added.

Shiro sighed "For now let's take a rest, tomorrow will come up with a plan" He ordered "Hunk, could you prepare something to eat for Rae?".

Hunk nodded and head to the kitchen followed by Pidge.

"Allura, Coran, we need to find a way to track the family, there most be a way to track only that species".

Coran played with his mustache "We'll try everything in our hands".

Shiro turned to Keith, who seemed to be lost in thought "Keith" He touched his shoulder.

Keith gasped, he was totally inside his own thoughts to pay attention to his surroundings "Yeah?".

"Good job back there" Shiro said with a proud smile "You should go with them, you're pretty good with kids".

"I'm not good with kids, it's just that..." He looked at Shiro and shook his head "Nevermind, i'll go see how's she's doing" With that he left the command room.

 

<><><>

 

Lance was playing on the resting room with the little girl, she's still had her big cape on.

"What's you favorite color Rae?" Lance asked.

"I like purple" She answered and started playing with Lance hand.

"Why's that?".

"Because if you mix my favorite colors, you get purple".

Lance smiled and the door opened, Keith entered the room with his hair wet and his normal clothes on.

"Why are you wet?" Lance asked.

"I took a shower" He answered and sat beside Lance and Rae "Hi Rae".

Rae smiled "Hi Keith!".

"I see you learned my name already".

The girl nodded "You're Keith and he's Lance".

"Nope, incorrect" Lance pointed "I'm the sharpshooter Lance and he's the emo mullet Keith".

"Lance" Keith said annoyed and patted softly the girls head "Don't be stupid" He said to Lance.

The door opened again, this time Hunk and Pidge came in with a couple of plates full of food "How's ready for some food!?" Hunk said excited.

Lance raised his hand "Me!".

Pidge placed the plate on the table "Not you idiot".

Hunk placed other three plates on the table "I didn't knew what you liked Rae, so I made my best plates for you to choose!".

The girl looked at Keith, questioning with the look if she should eat them. He nodded.

Rae let down the hood of the cape and tried to eat despite the long sleeves, Lance noticed that "You want to take off the cape?" He offered.

"It's my mommy's" She murmured.

"Don't worry, will take care of it" Pidge assured.

Rae thought quietly the option and finally nodded "Okay..." She unbuttoned the cloth, revealing her underneath clothes, it was a small silver dress with blue details.

"Better?" Lance asked folding the cloth and leaving it on the couch beside them.

"Yes" She answered and reached out for one the plates on the table "Can I try it?".

"Of course!" Hunk answered.

Rae didn't waste a second and launch her little hand into the food, tasting everything in the plates, the action clearly warmed Hunk's heart, he was at the border of tears.

Keith observed the little girl with a smile, she seemed much more calm than a couple of hours ago, for some reason... he felt close to Rae. He felt satisfied by watching her be more comfortable and eating, so he decided to leave.

"I'm gonna head to the training room" He said.

Lance stood up from a jump "I'll accompany you!".

Lance wanted to come with him?, something was wrong... "Uh, sure...".

Both paladins left the room, Rae was to distracted to notice their sudden absence. Both walked in an uncomfortable silence towards the training room.

"So... why did you wanted to accompany me?" Keith asked, trying to cut the tense and super uncomfortable ambient.

"Oh, I-I, I wanted to thank you" Lance said nervously.

Keith stopped walking and looked with confusion at the blue paladin "For what?".

"Well... if it wasn't for your sensitive Galra senses, we probably wouldn't found Rae".

"It was pure casualty and luck, nothing special about it".

"Don't be so harsh on yourself, give you some credit!" Lance pointed and patted his shoulder "And also... I wanted to thank you for what you said back there... about me".

Keith did complimented Lance earlier, he didn't felt like it was hard, the blue paladin IS everything that he mentioned, he didn't seemed to get the big deal with the subject.

"Quoting you: don't be so harsh with yourself, give you some credit" Keith said.

Lance laughed "Hunk was right, Galra Keith is way more funnier.

Keith rolled his eyes "Yeah, whatever".

"You know... I think Rae really likes you" Lance pointed.

"Maybe, but I..." He sighed "I would actually like to talk about the Galra subject with her, when I get the chance and in an appropriate moment of course".

"But why?".

"I need her to know how am I, specially if she's staying in here for a while. I-I don't want her to know all of a sudden and get super scared or even angry at m... at everyone".

Lance nodded "That's a good reason" He laughed again "You are not as cold as you seem, mullet".

"Shut up Lance".

Another laugh scaped the blue paladin mouth "Ok, don't get moody!".

Keith rolled his eyes "Is there anything else you wanna tell me?".

"Nope" He answered marking the 'p' at the end.

"Then I'm going to train" He walked away from Lance "Look after Rae".

"Aye, captain!".

 

<><><>

 

Rae was in one the castle bedrooms, Lance was sitting beside her in the bed, telling her an improvised story, he was a very good story teller, he gained the experience from telling tales for his nieces before sleeping. For some reason, he always had that spark with children, he liked them and they liked him, hanging out with children actually made him feel younger and also made all his stupid young adult worries and problems go away.

"And then, the princess saw the blue lion coming out from the clouds, landing in front of her, shaking the ground in the process!" He made the sound of the landing like if it was an explosion. Rae seemed to like it and started laughing.

"Tell me more, please!".

"After the blue lion landed, the ramp came out of the lion's mouth, revealing that inside of the big metallic machine, there was in fact a very..." A knock on the door interrumpted Lance on his favorite part of the story. He made and annoyed sound and stood up to open the door.

"Hunk, I already told you that we are not hun..." Lance looked at Keith with surprise "Keith!" He said sounding more surprised that he intended.

"Hey, is eh... is Rae awake?" He asked nervously.

Lance nodded and pointed the little girl behind him, she was playing with her red hair, totally unaware of the red paladin presence.

"Can I talk to her?" He asked "You know... about what I told you earlier?".

Lance wasn't 100% that it was the best idea to let Keith talk to her about that subject right now, but he did knew that Keith would feel much better to tell her directly that letting her know by accident or coincidence and that meant, not wasting time on avoiding the subject anymore.

"Sure, i'll be outside" He said and let Keith enter the room "Rae, Keith would like to speak with you. I'll be back to finish the story after that".

The girl smiled at Keith "Hi, mullet!" She said.

"Eh... I would really prefer if you called me Keith, please" He said, trying to contain his rage against the fact that she learned that from Lance.

Rae nodded "Alrighty!".

Lance smiled and left the red paladin alone with the girl. He just wished for the best.

Meanwhile, Keith got to his knees beside Rae's bed to be at her face level  "I need to tell you something important Rae".

"Is it about my family!?" She asked anxiously. Keith couldn't help to notice how mature she acted for her young age.

Keith shook his head "No, we're still looking for them, don't worry".

"Then what is it?" She asked concerned.

The red paladin sighed "Rae... what I'm going to tell you is kind of... delicate".

She nodded in sign of her understanding that this was something serious.

"But first, I need you to answer me a question" He said "Do you hate Galra?".

Her eyes went wide "T-they took my family away and destroyed part of my home..." But then she shook her head "But I don't hate them".

Keith looked confused, in her position he would probably hate the Galra with everything he had if those bastards destroyed his home, but this girl... she had something else in mind, her heart was pure and innocent, something he definitely admired as much as envied it.

"Mommy always said that hating is bad, it damages you and... even if they took away mommy and daddy, I think that it isn't their fault" She added "Dady always said something about an emperor called Zarkon and that he was a really bad person and the leader of the Galra, I think it's his fault" She shocked her head again "But even if he is evil I still don't hate him. Daddy also always said that bad people had a hard past that made them act like that, I think Zarkon had a really hard past if he acts like that now".

Keith mouth was agape, the innocence yet intelligence of this girl surprised him. He couldn't help to crack a smile "I agree with your parents Rae, hating is and will never be good for you".

She nodded "When they come back, they could teach all of you about this!. Maybe we could also teach it to the Galra and their hate will go away!".

Keith patted her head softly "That's a good idea".

"But what does this have to do with what you wanted to tell me?" She asked.

He took a big breath "The thing is that... I'm Galra".

She frowned in confusion "But you don't look Galra".

Keith shook his head "I'm half Galra. That means that my dad was human and my mom... Galra".

"Was she evil?".

"I don't know... i... never met her".

"Why?".

"She left when I was very little" He answered trying to look strong, even tough this subject wasn't his favorite.

"I don't hate you Keith, Galra or not, I know you're a good person!" She exclaimed "I will always be thankful to everyone for saving me, so of course I would never hate you!"

He laughed "Thanks, Rae".

She nodded "You want to hear a story?. Lance is great telling them".

"I don't think Lance would really agree with it...".

The door slide open "Stay Mullet, I am in fact a great story telling" He walked to Rae's bed and sat beside her.

"Eh... I..." Keith said nervously.

Lance pointed the other side beside Rae "Take a sit and enjoy the story, Mr. Kogane".

Keith obeyed, mostly because of Rae "Don't call me like that McClain".

"Just be quiet and listen" Lance added and cleared his throat "Like I was saying...".

"You stayed on the part when the blue lion opening its mouth!" Rae pointed excited.

"Right!. Inside the blue lion, there was this handsome, tall, tan skinned, beautiful smile young boy and his name was... Lance, the cool ninja sharpshooter!".

Keith couldn't help but to burst out laughing "Oh my... Lance are you serious!?".

Lance gave him a death stare "Yes, yes I am".

"Pffft!. That's ridiculous".

"Like I was saying... Lance, the cool ninja sharpshooter, was in fact a very good looking guy. The princess runned immediately to his arms and started crying of the excitement, saying: 'Oh my knight in shining robotic blue lion, I'm thankful for you saving me'. 'How could I ever repay such an amazing act!?'". Lance made the princess voice pretty well.

Rae laughed tiredly, she was already falling sleep "That's..." She yawned "Really amazing" He eyes started closing.

Lance yawned after her and closed his eyes too "Maybe we should rest a little bit..." He placed his head against the wall.

Keith observed them with a smiled on his face, he couldn't help but to feel tired too by seeeing them so comfortable. He decided to close his eyes too.

Before he knew it... the three of them fell sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Tumblr: @klanceanimatics


	2. You'll get use to it

Lance eyes slowly fluttered open, a deep pain on his neck coming along "Agh... what the..." He looked at Rae, who was sleeping with her head on his waist, a deep sleep state from what it looked like. He stood up slowly to not awake Rae, he slip of her grasp successfully and let out a big breath of relief, mission accomplished. He stretched his body trying to get rid of the pain in all his body, sleeping in this kind of position wasn't his thing, maybe it was Keith's... 

He looked at the bed once again, Keith was still sleeping beside Rae, one leg hanging out of the bed and his head against the wall in what looked like even a more uncomfortable position that himself was before. 'I should probably wake him up...' Lance thought and walked besides the red paladin "Pssst, hey buddy, time to wakey-wakey" He whispered to not awake the little girl in the process.

Keith made an annoyed sound and shifted slightly.

He placed his hand on the other boy shoulder "Keith!, wake up, we gotta get to work on finding Rae's parents!" He said in a bit higher voice while shaking slightly the red boy.

Keith finally opened his eyes, his hands doing immediately the typical morning face brush "Lance?" He groaned in annoyance.

"Shhh" Lance pointed at Rae.

Keith saw the girl still sleeping and furrowed his eyebrows "Did we...?".

Lance nodded and then pointed the door, meaning that they should talk outside. Keith nodded to this and got up, his face made a painful expression thanks to the uncomfortable sleeping position he was in.

The door slid open (thankfully) silently, both paladins step out of the room. Keith was still stretching all his body.

"Let me guess, your body feels like hell?" Lance asked with a grin on his face.

"Shut up, Lance. I bet you didn't have the best sleep in your life either" Keith answered and started walking in direction to the ship bridge.

Lance followed him two steps behind "At least my leg didn't hang out of the bed" He pointed and a thought crossed his mind "Hey, wait a second..." He stopped walking.

Keith stopped too and looked at the blue paladin with confusion "What?".

"We practically slept together".

"Oh my god, Lance!. Seriously!?. This is what first came to your mind!?" Keith snapped.

"I'm just pointing the facts".

"And I'm just going to ignore that stupid comment" Keith continued walking.

"Say whatever you gotta say, we slept together and there's nothing you can do about it" Lance continued walking too.

"Why are you even so calm with that!?".

The blue paladin laughed "I think it's funny, Keith and Lance, the rivals of team slepping toegether!" He said it like if it was a newspaper headline "Big news, huh?".

"Big news that involve you too" Keith pointed "If I fall, you fall behind. We're not telling anyone and it's the end of the discussion".

"Rae knows" Lance added.

"No she doesn't, she felt sleep before us".

"Ok, ok, you need to chill man, obviously we're not telling anybody".

They arrived to the bridge and before opening the doors, Keith pointed at Lance "Don't say a word about the subject".

Lance rolled his eyes and moved Keith's hand out of his personal space "Jeez man, you really have to chill down a bit".

Keith sighed and the door slid open.

Everyone was already there looking at a holographic map.

"Hey, look who's finally here!" Pidge pointed with a grin on her face "Did you had a good sleep?".

Keith totally ignored the question and looked at the map "Found anything yet?".

Shiro shook his head "No, not yet".

"There's way too many Galra ships with prisoners, even with the help of the rebel soldiers, we might take months liberating all of them" Allura added.

"I'm mostly certain there's most be another way to do this" Hunk said "The poor girl misses her parents a lot".

"Have you tried, I don't know... looking for species?" Lance suggested.

Coran shook his head "We can't do that, the Galra have a really high security software, it could takes a while to even get into their data".

Pidge gasped "Unless... we already have a portion of the data!".

"That's the problem, we don't have even a small portion of the data!" Hunk pointed out.

Pidge got to her station on the bridge and turned on the screen "We don't, but the rebel soldiers do" She looked for a name in the computer and click it "I'll call my brother and ask him for the data" A call sign appeared "Come on big bro..." She murmured.

Matt face appeared in the screen _"Hi everyone"_ He greeted waving his hand.

"Hi Matt, how's everything around there?" Shiro asked.

_"It's not the best of the best, but it's okay. We managed to liberate 5 Galra ships yesterday, luckily for all of you and me, I could pick up the call 'cause today it's a resting day"._

"I'm sorry to pop out your bubble, but we need your help" Lance added.

"Yeah, like Lance said. We wanted to ask you about the prisoner data of the Galra" Pidge said.

_"The prisoner data?"._

Allura nodded "We're searching for a little girl parents, but we can't do it without looking into the data".

 _"Yeah, okay, I get that part, but the data we have is just a small portion we managed to retrieve. Its kinda old"_ Matt pointed.

"Doesn't matter!" Pidge exclaimed "With the small portion of the data, I can manage to find a way to break the code down and then with the code, I could break down the security of their software 100% easier!" She said excited.

 _"Ok, relax sis. I'm sending it to you, you should be receiving it..."_ Matt typed something on the screen _"Now"._

Like he said, they received the archive of the prisoner data. 

"Thank you so much, Matt" Lance said with relief, he was happy that Rae would see her family again, he simply hated broken families.

"Yeah, thanks" Keith added.

 _"Hey, Keith!. I almost didn't notice you were there!"_ Matt said.

"Ok, thanks for everything Matt, bye..." Pidge interrumpted her brother and hang up te call "I should probably get to work".

"I'll give you a hand so we can finish faster" Hunk said.

Allura shook her head "No, actually you and Shiro are going to go liberate a nearby Galra ship".

"Precisely!. So go get ready paladins!" Coran exclaimed.

Hunk and Shiro didn't complain, they justa obeyed and went to suit up.

"And what about me?" Lance asked to Allura "I wanna help!".

"And you will, you and Keith will take care of Rae meanwhile" Allura ordered.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows "I have nothing against taking care of Rae" He pointed Keith with annoyance "But why do I have to do it with this guy?".

Keith totally ignored him and leaved the bridge without saying a word.

"You said you want to help, this is your task!" Coran pointed with his energetic voice tone.

"Yeah, but why always with Keith!?".

"That's enough!" Allura shouted "Or you go and help Keith in this instant, or you clean the whole castle on your own for the rest of the month, or however you humans call it!" She scolded him like she was his mother.

"Ugh!" He protested "Alright, i'll go help stupid Keith" He walked in direction to the door "Space mom..." He murmured and got out of the room.

Lance decided to make a quick stop on his room to change his clothes for something cleaner and then he headed to Rae's room, he supposed that she was still sleeping.

He knocked the door a couple of times "Rae?, you awake?" He asked without an answer from the other side of the door "Rae?" He started to feel worried and decided to open the door "I'm coming in!" When the door opened, the first thing he saw was the empty bed with the sheets on the floor.

"Oh no..." Lance said with worry, he ran out of the room into the hallway and started shouting like a maniac "Rae!" He looked inside every room he came across "No, no, no!" His first worry was if she was okay, his second worry was that she had scaped or something and his third... Allura, the princess was definitely going to kill him. He ran inside every room, getting more worried wich each step, until something came to his mind... 

"Keith!" He shouted with euphoria, if this was Keith responsibility too, that meant that it would also be his fault. "KEITH!" He shouted even louder.

Lance continue running through the castle like crazy until he heard a small giggle coming from the kitchen. He entered the place and saw Rae eating from a small plate on the kitchen bar, her feet hanging in the tall chair.

"Rae!" He exclaimed with relief.

Rae turned around and waved to him "Hi Lance!".

"W-where have you...?" He was about to ask when someone cleared its throat behind him.

Keith was leaning against the door frame with arms crossed "The real question here is where have YOU been?".

"I was looking for you!".

"Keith went to wake me up and gave me something for breakfast!" Rae added happily, eating big chunks of the strange food.

Keith sighed "I gave her some of the leftovers from yesterday" He leaned in the bar in front of Rae.

Lance decided to sat beside Rae to make her some company "Ok, that's good".

"I don't need your approval" The red paladin said annoyed.

"I wasn't giving you my approval, it was just a comment!".

Keith rolled his eyes for the hundred time "Whatever you say" He patted Rae's head softly "Finish eating, i'll go to take a bath and change my clothes".

Rae nodded without taking her eyes off the food.

"I'll stay with her" Lance pointed.

"Obviously" Keith left the kitchen.

Lance couldn't help but to sigh at the red paladin difficult personality and trait.

"Are you two always like this?" Rae asked while chewing.

Lance snorted "All the time!" He brushed her hair playfully and smiled "You'll get use to it. In a time, you'll probably even laugh at it".

Rae laughed and continued eating.

 

<><><>

_ Earlier _

 

Keith walked in direction to Rae's bedroom after Allura ordered it. He knocked the door a couple of times and the lack of response told him that the girl was still sleeping, it was pretty late now, so he decided to awake her so she could eat something. Keith entered the room and saw the little girl sleeping peacefully in the bed, he hated the fact to awake her but he had to.

He brushed her face softly while whispering "Rae, time to wake up".

The girl murmured something like a complain and turned around.

"I'll give you something for breakfast" Keith added.

Rae seemed to have a common love for food. Hunk was definitely going to enjoy to prepare her all the dishes she wants. She opened her eyes and rubbed them with her hands "I'm..." She yawned sleepily "I'm awake now".

Keith smiled "Good, wanna go eat something?".

She nodded and grabbed his hand. Keith helped her get off the bed and guided her to the kitchen.

She yawned a couple of times while they were walking and Keith did too thanks to her.

"Keith" She called.

"Yeah?".

"Did you..." She yawned once again "Did you and Lance slept with me in my bed?".

'She does remember!?' Keith thought a bit nervous about the comment "Uh... yeah, we all fell sleep yesterday" He answered, there was no point in lying.

"Oh, ok..." She said in a lower tone.

"Don't worry, today will let your bed all to yourself" Keith pointed.

"No!" She exclaimed and then realized her high voice volumen and blushed "It... it made me feel comfortable".

Keith stopped walking and got to his knees to be at her face level "What do you mean?".

Rae tried to hide her blushing face "It felt like if my parents were there with me... They used to stay with me until I fell asleep" She admitted "I..." A tear came out of her blue eye "I miss them, Keith".

Keith's eyes went wide when she saw her crying "Hey, it's okay..." He hugged her strongly "We're going to find them, I promise".

A small sob came out of her mouth "Thank you...".

Keith wiped away a tear off her cheek "For now, we'll be your family, ok?".

She nodded and hugged him again "I like this family" She whispered.

Keith stood up and grabbed her hand "Let's get you something to eat, shall we?".

Rae squished his hand "Yes".

Both continued walking silently down the hall in direction to the kitchen, until Rae pulled Keith's arm and they stopped once again.

"Is something wrong?" Keith asked looking down at her.

She shook her head "I wanted to ask you if..." Her cheeks turned pink from embarrassment "If you and Lance could stay with me until I fall sleep again?".

Keith didn't like the idea of sleeping with the blue paladin, but he wasn't going to break her heart by saying no to her "Yeah... maybe we could, but you should ask Lance too".

"Okay!. I'll ask him as soon as I see him!" She said with excitement and pulled Keith's arm in direction to the kitchen.

"Someone is excited to eat?" Keith asked while being pulled by the small girl.

"Yes!, but maybe you should guide us" She added with a giggle.

Keith nodded and took the lead once again.

 

<><><>

 

Lance was sitting beside Rae on the kitchen. She placed her spoon on the table proudly, Lance noticed she had some food on her cheek. He grabbed a napkin and helped her clean it up gently "Let me help you with that".

Rae smiled at the action "Thank you".

"Sure. You finished?" Lance asked.

"Yep!. It was so delicious!".

Lance laughed "You should tell that to Hunk the next time you see him" He got up and placed the plate and spoon on the super modern Altean dishwasher.

Rae was playing with her legs hanging off the tall chair, moving them on no particular rhythm "Lance?" She asked.

"Yeah?" He responded while trying to figure out how to get the strange dishwasher to work.

"Can i ask you a thing?. Well, actually, two things?".

"Sure, ask away" He answered.

"I asked Keith earlier if..." She swallowed as a sign of her nervous state "...you could stay with me tonight until I fall sleep?".

Lance eyes went wide to the question, he left the weird dishwasher and got in front of Rae.

"What did he said?".

"Keith agreed but he told me I had to ask you too first" She answered.

'Keith agreed?' Was the first thought on Lance head. Keith always seemed like the cold type that never had a lot of friends or wasn't exactly close to his family. In Lance eyes, he just seemed like and emo teenager with anger issues and a very bad haircut, but maybe he was just thinking of his bad traits?. Keith was actually excellent with kids, that was one of the many things that made the blue paladin extremely confused. For some reason, Keith had this weird paternal/brotherly instinct that maybe not even himself was aware of. In few words... Lance was more lost in _'the Keith field'_ than anyone on the castle.

Lance nodded with his head and gave Rae a kiss on the head "Of course we will" He answered to the little girl, if Keith agreed, why wasn't him?.

Rae giggled "Thank you so much, Da..." She shook her head and her cheeks turned slightly pink "...Lance".

Lance noticed how she was about to say dad, he couldn't help but to smile at it.

Rae gasped "Oh right!" She said with excitement.

"Did something happened?" Lance asked confused by the excitement coming from her.

"I wanted to ask you since yesterday. What's a ninja?" She asked pronouncing with difficulty the word ninja.

The blue paladin laughed "Oh my padawan... I have so many things to teach you...".

"Pada... won?" Rae asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Its pronounced padawan" He corrected and grabbed her hand "Let's go to the resting room and I'll explain you everything, okay?".

The little girl nodded in excitement and followed the blue paladin to the resting room.

 

<><><>

 

Keith finished taking his bath. Now he was searching for Rae and Lance around the castle, he saw Allura and Coran walking to his direction with a strange Altean device in hands.

"Keith!" Allura called. The Alteans got closer to him.

"Is everything okay?" Keith asked.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry. We actually just wanted to ask something to Rae" Coran answered.

Allura nodded to the statement "I felt your energy nearby. We thought Rae was with you".

"You felt my energy?" Keith asked confused while brushing with his hand his wet hair.

"Yes, when you all entered to the castle for the first time, I managed to recognize your quintessence, and now I can feel your energy inside the castle" The princess answered.

Coran nodded "Precisely, but only inside the castle. Also, that's the way Allura matched you with your lions".

"I see..." Keith added with a suspicious tone "And... what do you want to ask Rae?".

"We need to know her parents names" Allura answered and showed the device to Keith "Pidge manage to break a small part of the code, some letters and numbers came up".

Keith observed the screen full of numbers like: B67876 or R19273. 

Coran played with his mustache "We have the theory that the numbers are codified names for the prisioners".

"And how are we going to figure them out?" The red paladin asked and gave the device back to Allura.

"Pidge is trying to continue breaking the code to find a pattern. If she manages to break it completely, we'll break down this codes in a tick!" Coran answered with his typical energetic voice.

"Also Matt and the rebels will help us by asking for their names when they liberate the ships" Allura added.

Keith nodded in understatement "Ok, I get it. But I don't know where they are, I was just about to look for them".

"Oh I got that covered. I feel Lance energy coming from the resting room" Allura pointed and started walking down the hall, followed by Coran and Keith.

From the other side of the door they could hear laughs and some weird noises like bad sound effects. Coran opened the door and they saw Lance and Rae behind the couch, his hand on two fingerguns and making some bad shooting noises.

"Eh... Lance, Rae?" Alluras asked confused by the weird actions they were performing.

Rae and Lance totally ignored her and continued shooting to no target in particular.

"We have to defend the castle, ninja!" Lance shouted.

"I'm on it sharpshooter!" Rae continued the game.

Keith with his arms crossed, cleared his throat on purpose to get the attention of the blue paladin and the alien girl.

Rae saw him and runned to him excited "Keith! We need help, the castle is under attack!".

"WHAT!?" Both Alteans shouted on unison.

Lance couldn't help to laugh "It's a game guys. Didn't you ever played things like this?" He asked facing the Alteans.

Allura shook her head "Absolutely no. Alteans have always been a peaceful civilization, that kind of games only provide unnecessary violence".

Rae snorted "Lance says that's why he calls you space mom".

The princess shot a death stare to the blue paladin "Is that so...?".

Coran cleared his throat "I hate to interrumpt the conversation, but we need to ask you something my sweet child".

Rae looked at Coran and nodded along with a sweet smile "Ask away!" She was definetly becoming a tiny copy of Lance, and Keith noticed it.

"Could you tell us your parents names?" He asked.

The smile on her face suddenly banished and turned into a worried expression "You found them!?. Did something happened!?".

"No, no, no!" Allura answered "The quite contrary actually. We need the names so we can find them faster".

"Oh... okay" Rae said with a big relief in her voice "My mom's name is Rueth, everyone says that I look a lot like her" She said with a giggle "And my daddy's name is Zath".

Coran write it down on the device and gave a thumbs up "Perfect!".

"Thank you Rae, this will make te search much more easier" Allura thanked lowering her head a bit.

"I'll go to give this information to Pidge" Coran announced and left with the new crucial information on his hands.

The princess squatted down and touches Rae's shoulders "Hey sweetie, I was thinking that maybe you could borrow some of the clothes I used as a child" She said with a motherly smile.

Rae jumped from happiness "Yes!. I want to wear a princess dress!" She exclaimed.

Allura stood up and grabbed her hand "Let's go then!".

"Can Lance and Keith come too?" The small girl asked.

Lance and Allura shared an embarrassing look. Allura obviously didn't want two boys on her bedroom and dressing room, less to be seen changing her clothes.

Keith was the one to break the uncomfortable atmosphere "I think it's better if we wait for you here. Surprise us with a cool new outfit!" He said with an excitement that neither Allura or Lance ever heard before on him.

Rae jumped once again from happiness "Okay!. I'll pick the best dress!".

Lance smiled at her "Go ahead my ninja padawan" he said and made a Japanese reverence, wich Rae imitated with a laugh. Allura and Rae got out of the resting room, leaving the red and blue paladin completely alone.

Keith gave a big sigh and slumped into the couch "My neck hurts as hell..." He complained making slow movements with his head.

Lance slumped into the couch too and massaged his neck "Mine too, sleeping like that is extremely uncomfortable".

"Ditto".

Both stayed in silence, not an uncomfortable one, but it was all silent.

"Hey, Lance?" Keith asked breaking the silence.

"Hmm?".

"Did Rae told you something about... the sleeping thing?"

Lance snorted "Sleeping thing...".

"I'm being serious here you idiot!" Keith snapped and rolled his eyes "This is why it's impossible to have a decent conversation with you".

That actually hurt Lance, he hated to be taken by a clown "I-I'm sorry" He apologized nervously "What about it?".

"Did you say yes or no?" Keith asked directly.

Lance eyes widen by the question, 'was Keith interested about his opinion that much?'. The blue paladin nodded "I said yes".

"Oh, okay" Was the only thing the red one said.

And this time... and uncomfortable silence did involve them. Lance played with his fingers while giving occasional glance to the red paladin, Keith was just looking to nowhere in specific, just drifting away...

Lance take advantage of the situation and admired Keith. He looked at his pale skin color, his perfect nose and face features, how his hair rested just a couple of centimeters away from his shoulder and then... his eyes, Keith had a rare eye color, Lance still couldn't figure out if they were blue, grey or even black eyes; but there was this thing he did noticed, his eyes we're kind of litmus, they definitely changed with the illumination. His favorite color, violet. It was simply mesmerizing and beautiful to look at his eyes when they had the purplish-violet color.

"Hey eh... can I ask you something?" Lance asked, he decided to finally answer the question of Keith's eye color.

The other boy got ripped out of his thoughts "I guess" Keith answered now facing Lance.

"What color are your eyes?" He finally asked.

Keith seemed confused by the question "My eyes?".

"Yeah, I always had that question since I met you".

"You see me everyday, how in the fucking world do you not know what color are my eyes!?".

"They change of color!. Sometimes they seem grey, other blue, black and even... purple".

Keith sighed "Okay, let's make this 'funnier'" He said doing the " " with his fingers.

"Huh?".

"What color do you think they are from all the ones you mention?" Keith asked.

"All of them!" Lance exclaimed.

"Pick one of them, the one that seems more alike or something. Then I'll tell you if you're wrong or right" Keith explained.

"You're on!" Lance got closer to Keith's face, just a few inches apart.

Keith got back "What the hell are you doing!?".

"I need to observe them closer" Lance answered and got closer once again.

Keith felt his cheeks get red "O-okay...".

Lance made some weird expression that then changed into a smile.

"I know what it is!" He announced with his arms in the air.

Keith cleared his throat and tried to hide a bit his blushing "S-spill it".

"Keith Kogane has..." He made a dramatic pause and shouted with excitement "Purple eyes!" He was going to pick blue, but for some reason, he prefer to believe that the pretty bo... Keith's!... eyes were purple.

Keith laughed and made a so so sign with his hand "Kind of, but no".

"Then what color are they?".

"Indigo, depending on the light they seemed more purplish or blue and even in some cases, grey".

"Ha!. But they are kinda purple!".

Keith rolled his eyes "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say".

"Wohoo!" The blue paladin shouted in excitement "I won!".

"Pfff, no you didn't".

"Shut up mullet" Lance said with an annoyed frown.

Keith had his arms crossed once again, his soft smile he had just now started to banish and turned into sadness, his eyes, his posture, his mouth, everything turned into total sadness in less than 30 seconds. Lance notice the action and decided to make another question.

"Keith?" He asked worried about the red paladin.

"Hmm?" Keith answered without even looking at him.

Lance was nervous to ask his question, Keith was very unpredictable and hard to read sometimes. In the outside, he seemed like a emo rebel hot-headed teenage guy, but from the inside... Lance was sure he kept a lot of things.

"How are you so good with kids?" He finally asked.

Keith this time looked at him, his arms crossed even harder, showing how Keith was so closed about the subject.

"I... I-it doesn't matter, I guess I'm just natural with them" He answered unsure.

Lance shoved closer to the red paladin "Oh, come on!. What's your secret?, any siblings that we didn't knew their existence in the Kogane family?".

Keith lowered his head slightly "No... I'm an only child".

Lance gave Keith a playful punch on the shoulder "Come on, there most be a reason!. No one is this 'natural' with kids without having at least a bit of experience".

The red paladin shook his head "I don't wanna talk about it, Lance".

For the blue paladin, that answer wasn't enough. So he decided to use his _"special weapon"_.

"I thought we were bonding" He said to manipulate the other boy "But I guess you are too emo to share an experience with your teammates" Lance crossed his arms and stayed in silence waiting for a response.

Keitn sighed and rubbed his face with his hands "Why did you had to bring up the bonding moment?".

"Maybe I wanted to actually remember a bonding moment with you" And surprise, surprise... he was blushing. Lace just realized how that sounded and felt his cheeks grew hotter.

The red paladin was blushing slightly too, he swallowed a couple of time "Ah... okay, I guess we could have another...".

"Bonding moment" Lance finished for him.

Keith nodded and blinked a couple of times "Yeah... that".

"Ok, so... spill it!" Lance exclaimed and got his feet on the couch, with shoes and all.

The red paladin didn't mind the action and started telling his story.

"So... there was this kid, Danny. We both went to the same..." He made a strange pause, like if he was thinking his next words "...school. Everyday the older kids bullied him, I was getting tired of it and... punched one of the kids" Keith laughed a bit and shook his head "I got in lots of trouble, but the kids never bothered Danny anymore".

"Was Danny younger or the same age?" Lance interrumpted.

"Younger, by two years" Keith answered "After that, he and I became really good friends. Everyone was afraid of me because of what I did, everyone except for Danny, he was thankful and he even once told me he admired me" Keith let out a tiny smile "I was like his older brother, we went everywhere together and made everything together. Until... he left the o... school!" He almost shouted the last part, but he ignored it and continued talking normally "I grew incredibly depressed after he left. Even today I still miss him".

"And what did your parents did when you got depressed?" The blue paladin asked.

Keith turned around, a clear sign of him wanting to avoid the question "I-I don't..." He sighed "It doesn't matter".

Lance didn't pushed the subject further, he returned to his original place at the other edge of the couch. Keith again seemed lost on his own mind, the uncomfortable silence once again took over the place, thankfully, the door suddenly opened.

Rae entered giving small jumps, followed by Allura. The little girl runned to Lance in excitement.

"Look Lance!" She spin showing her purple and blue dress "Now I look like a total princess!".

The energy that she always brought with her made Lance happy. He stood up and scooped up the little girl in his arms like if she didn't weight anything.

"You look beautiful, ninja!" He spin her in his arms.

Rae giggled and hugged Lance neck. Keith observed them with his soft, kind of sad smile.

"Keith!" She exclaimed.

Keith stood up and walked to be in front of her on Lance arms.

"You look beautiful" He said and glanced briefly at Lance "You really did impress me, ninja".

"Mission accomplished!" She said with excitement.

Allura giggled "I told you they would like it".

Rae nodded "Thank you, badass princess!" She was definitely turning into a tiny Lance.

"I'll go to the training room" Keith announced.

"No!. Let's play something!" The little girl begged.

Lance looked at Keith expectantly.

The red paladin gave her a kiss on the forehead. Lance heart melted at the sweet action, he never saw this side of Keith, neither he ever imagined it.

"I promise will play later" He promised.

Rae gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek "Ok, but you promised it!".

"Of course" Keith reassured and left the resting room.

Lance observed him go, Keith wasn't the type of guy to show a lot his feelings, but he was almost certain that the red paladin was in fact... sad.

"Well, I should probably get going too" Allura pointed.

Lance shifted Rae's weight on his arms "Is there something you want to say to Allura?" He asked to the little girl.

"Thank you so much princess!" She exclaimed.

Allura made a little bow and left too.

Lance noticed that Rae seemed happier and more childish than yesterday. He was thankful she was being this optimistic after everything that happened to her family. He actually kind of envy her in that aspect.

 

<><><>

 

Shiro and Hunk returned a couple of hours later, no success on the mission. Pidge was still working like crazy on breaking the code, Hunk and Coran were now helping her fulfill the stressful task. Shiro and Allura were searching for more Galra ships with prisioners on the area. Lance was hanging out with Rae, he was officially proclaimed his caretaker until they found her parents, Keith was also given the task to look after her, but he was nowhere to be seen, wich bothered the blue paladin a lot.

Lance was waking to Rae's room, arms crossed "Stupid Keith" He mumbled "He just disappears whenever he wants. At least I hope he fulfills his promise to Rae".

He continued walking and saw Hunk passing by.

"Hey buddy!".

Hunk looked at him and smiled "Hey, Lance".

"Any news?".

"Not really, breaking the code is harder than we thought".

Lance placed his hand on his friend shoulder "I know you guys can do it".

"Thanks man" Hunk thanked "How's Rae?".

"Oh!. I was just heading to her room for the bed time story".

The yellow paladin snorted "You love kids don't you?".

Lance eyes opened in surprise "Of course I love them!".

"I bet you want to have kids, don't you?".

"Well, duh!".

His friend laughed "With Keith?".

"Well, yeah, I would..." Lance babbled and then realized what Hunk just said "W-what!?. No, never!" He tried to suppress a blush that was starting to grow on his face.

"Riiight..." Hunk teased.

"Is this because I said once that Keith looked cute?" He asked.

"In a part, maybe".

"WHAT!?. What the hell do you mean with 'in a part'!?".

Hunk smirked and left without answering.

"This conversation doesn't end here, Hunk Garret!" Lance shouted, his voice resonating in the hall.

He sighed. 

"I'm never telling anything about that subject to Hunk ever again".

 

<><><>

 

Keith had finished training a while ago. He was dead tired, wich he didn't get. He had trained even harder than this before, why was he so tired?. Maybe this is what they call and emotional exhaustion. Keith has been overthinking aspects of his life that weren't exactly happy, he tends to drift away in his thoughts even more than before. Training was the only thing that kept him out and away of his thousand of broken and exhausting memories.

He was waking around the castle halls. Once again just drifting away, letting his feet do all the job to guide him to his room. Until he reached a breaking point...

A single tear came out of his eyes, he leaned against the wall on the lonely, empty hall and let himself slide down slowly until he reached the ground. Thousands of memories that he had buried a long time ago, came back like a waterfall to his brain, he knew the reason of it was Rae. It wasn't her fault, it's just that she reminded a lot to Keith himself.

He slumped in the floor against the wall for probably and hour, too tired to move, to lost to even want it. He closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, he heard steps, someone was coming. Not having the mood to move right now, Keith decided to excuse himself saying that he was just resting for a bit.

"Keith?" Lance, that was Lance voice.

Keith opened his eyes and faced the blue paladin.

Lance got to his knees in front of him with a worried look on his face "You okay?".

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired" He answered.

Lance stood up and offered his hand to him "You better get rid of that tiredness. We promised Rae to stay with her until she falls sleep".

Keith took his hand and let himself be pulled from the ground "I know, let's go".

The blue paladin looked at him worried "Are you sure you're okay?".

"I'm fine, Lance" He answered once again "Let's just go with Rae".

Lance shrugged "Ok".

Both boys arrived to Rae's room. She was already on her bed with some pajamas Allura lend to her.

"I'm ready for the story!" She shouted just as Lance and Keith entered her room.

Lance laughed and walked across the room to lie down beside her on the bed "I prepared a new one for tonight".

"Yay!" She pointed the other side beside her "Come here, Keith!".

The red paladin obeyed and lied down with them on the bed.

"I hope this story doesn't get us all to sleep" Keith added.

"Oh, just shut your mouth, mullet!" Lance said annoyed. He cleared his throat and started telling the story "Once upon a time... there was this little girl, she was a super badass ninja that fought against the evil ones that dare to attack her planet!" He made some bad sound effects of punches.

Rae laughed. 

"One day, she met Voltren, a gigantic robot that defended the universe against the evil Gulras!".

"What the hel..." Keith was about to ask when Lance threw him a scared expression, because of the word that he was just about to say "...Heck is Voltron and Gulras?".

"Obviously I'm referring to Voltron and Galras, but I'm not using their original names for adding some...".

"Originality" Rae finished for him.

"Exactly what she said" He conceded.

Keith laughed a bit and continued listening to Lance.

"But then, the Gulras threatened the little ninja girl planet, so she decided to ask Voltren for some help..." Keith eyes lids started to close involuntary, he wasn't aware that he was that much tired.

"...Ninja, when the blue...red and even a cas..." Was the only thing he heard before he fell asleep once again in a super uncomfortable position.

"But then together, the ninja and the sharpshooter..." Rae saw Keith sleeping beside her and interrumpted Lance.

"Eh, Lance?".

"Wait I'm getting to the best part!".

"Keith fell asleep" She pointed the boy beside her.

Lance looked at the red paladin totally knocked out in the bed. He was probably super tired of all the training his been doing lately, Keith's peaceful expression told Lance that we was on a deep sleep already. He smiled softly.

"Maybe we should let him sleep" He suggested.

Rae nodded "Ok, I don't mind him sleeping here" Her eyes light up in excitement "You could stay too like yesterday!".

"Uh, I-I..." He scratched the back of his head, just by thinking about the pain of the morning, he hated the idea, but of course, he wasn't going to let Rae down, specially after all she's going through.

"Sure, we'll stay on here".

Rae smiled showing her theet and fangs "Thank you for staying, Lance".

"Of course" He made himself a bit comfortable.

"Good night, Lance" She said and then looked to Keith "Good night, Keith" Obviously, there wasn't any response from the red paladin.

"Good night, Rae" Lance said in returned and closed his eyes.

In a few minutes...the three fell sleep once again, just like a happy family...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!


	3. I'm here for you

Lance waked up very early on the morning. Once again he was having this weird insomnia. 

He turned his head and watched Rae sleeping peacefully, but no Keith. His first thought was that Keith waked up too and left because he was uncomfortable. Lance wanted to leave too now that Rae was profoundly sleeping. He left the room silently and started doing his nightly walk, he has been doing it for almost a week, it helps him a bit to get tired and makes easier to sleep.

He was now heading to the pool, that luckily, Coran managed to turn around and make it a more 'earthly' pool. He love going but he didn't swim, he just liked to get his feet inside the water, it reminded him of the beach back at Cuba.

When he got to the pool, he heard a splash. He first thought there was an intruder, but then... he saw a glimpse of red.

"Keith?" He asked.

The red paladin was in front of the Altean pool, his fingertips inside the water and his attention on everything else except Lance.

Lance got closer to him "Hey man, are you okay?" He asked.

Keith this time looked at him, his face showed fear "Y-yeah...".

The blue paladin got to his knees besides the other boy in such a strange mood "Keith, tell me the truth".

Keith didn't say anything and regain his focus on the pool.

Lance sighed "Please Keith, I... I'm starting to get worried about you".

The other one didn't answer once again.

"I've been observing you" He touched the water too "Not in a creepy way through!" He added "But I did notice that you have been really secluded lately. Always drifting out in the middle of conversations and being... sad".

Keith faced Lance with watery eyes "I-I'm sorry".

Lance didn't even thought about his next action, he just embraced Keith strongly in his arms "It's okay" He was surprised to see the stoic red paladin crying, but he ignored that, right now Keith needed his help more than his questions.

Keith pushed him "No, it's not!" He shouted splashing the water from his fingers "I'm a fucking idiot, Lance!. I'm weak and I can't focus on anything anymore because of this stupid memories that fill my fucking mind all the time!".

Lance patted his back "Hey, it's okay. Just let it out".

"Stop saying is okay!. Nothing is okay!" The red paladin snapped.

"Keith, calm down!" Lance said strongly this time.

Keith stood up and started pacing around in circles in his same spot "Don't tell me to calm down, Lance!. I haven't been able to sleep properly in months since I've been told I was Galra!. I've been extremely exhausted this last couple of days because of my stupid thoughts and my fucking depression that comes along!".

Lance stood up too and tried to touch Keith's shoulder, only to receive a strong hit on his hand "Keith...".

"Don't you dare to tell me to calm the hell down, Lance!".

"Keith, seriously, breath".

Keith let out of his mouth something like a groan and a sob "STOP TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN!" He shouted, he was just a second away from exploding even more, his hands were now tight fists ready to hit whatever gets on his path, unfortunately, that was Lance.

"KEITH!" He shouted the red boy name "I don't want to fight, so please just...".

Too late. The red paladin launched forward to hit Lance straight on the face. Lance managed to move quickly away from his fist and like if everything was on slow motion, he saw an opportunity to push Keith to the pool and he... did it, he pushed Keith inside the pool, a loud splash coming from it. Lance just realized what he did, Keith was either going to calm down a bit or... kill him.

Keith got out of the water with a big breath and couple of coughs, brushing his hair out of his face and a panicked expression on his eyes. Lance got closer to the border, worried about his friend.

"Keith!. I'm sorry, you didn't calm down and I didn't knew what to do".

Keith expression softened a bit "Thank you..." He whispered.

"Huh?" Lance was confused about Keith just thanking him that suddenly.

"Thank you, I really needed that".

"Eh, sure... I guess?" He scratched the back of his head "Are you okay?".

Keith nodded and started swimming closer to the border "Yeah, I'm better".

"Good" Lance offered his hand to the red paladin "Here, let me help you".

Keith grabbed his hand and smirked, pulling Lance into the water with him.

Lance gave a big breath "What the hell man!?" He cleaned the water off his eyes.

The red paladin laughed "You owed me one".

"You're such a jerk".

Lance got on his back, facing the ceiling and floating peacefully on the water.

"You aren't coming out?" Keith asked splashing some water to his face.

"In a minute. This is very comfortable" He pointed the spot beside him on the water "Here, come and float with me mullet".

Keith didn't complained and followed the blue paladin orders. He laid in his back just like Lance, relaxing all his body and looking at all the small details on the ceiling.

"Why were you here?" Lance asked, floating softly.

"Why did you came?" Keith responded with a question.

"I asked first".

The red paladin sighed "I couldn't sleep".

"Why?".

"I doesn't matter".

Lance turned around, placing his feet on the pool floor "Could you stop saying that!?".

Keith imitated his action "Huh?".

"You always say that it doesn't matter!. Could you for once in your life stop suffering silently!?" He hit the water with his fist, sending the liquid flying in all directions.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Keith shouted "Could you for once in your life mind your own business!" He swam to the border of the pool, getting out slowly with all his clothes now heavy because of the water it absorbed.

"I'm worried about you Keith!" Lance exclaimed "Everyone is!".

"IT. DOESEN'T. MATTER. LANCE." He said once again, squeezing the water out of his shirt.

The blue paladin felt his face turn red from the anger, he swam to the border and got out of the pool with a jump, ignoring his wet clothes, he got extremely close to Keith (totally violating his personal space) and grabbed his shirt collar with one fist.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP WITH THAT!" He said with rage in his words.

Keith pushed him away "THEN STOP FUCKING ASKING!".

"AGH!" Lance pulled his hair in frustration "Is like talking to a stupid wall!".

"Who asked you!?" Keith shouted once again "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE LANCE!".

"I'm tired of your nonsense Keith!" Lance got closer to him, placing his long finger on the slightly shorter boy chest "WHY. CAN'T. YOU. JUST. TALK!?" He said every word with a push to Keith's chest.

Keith felt his anger reaching a breaking point "SHUT THE HELL UP!" He intended to throw a fist to Lance face, but the taller boy embrace him by the waist and threw them both inside of the pool once again.

They were now underwater, both kicking and fitting against each other. Keith managed to pull Lance from the sleeve, while Lance punched Keith on the face with all the strength he could have underwater.

Both needed to go out and breath, they floated to the water surface and gave a big breath to recover the lost air.

"I-I'm..." Lance started giving big breaths of air "I'm sorry".

Keith coughed "D-don't be, I was the one that was about to punch you, again".

Lance sighed "I-I just want to help you Keith, I'm not going to force you but... I want you to know that I'm here in case you need someone to talk".

"I know..." Keith mumbled "Thank you, Lance".

The blue paladin eyes widen at the words "Y-yeah, sure" His cheeks grew an intense blush.

"You can talk to me too, i know you miss earth" Keith said, swimming for the second time in the night outside of the pool "I know it must be hard, so... we can talk about it, if you want" Keith's cheeks blushed slightly.

Both sat on the edge of the pool side by side. Lance wanted to ask Keith a lot of questions.

"So...".

Keith sighed "Is because of Rae, she brings me back memories that I've buried a long time ago" .

"What kind of memories?".

"Just... memories. It doesn't matter really, I just... need time alone to get rid of them".

Lance placed his hand on Keith's shoulder "You don't have to do it alone Keith. I'm here for you".

They looked into each other's eyes, their faces just a few inches apart. Lance observed how Keith's eyes looked violet with the dim blue light that the pool could offer and how his wet black hair almost covered his eyes. He started to get a bit closer to him, only to be interrumpted by Keith clearing his throat and backing away.

"So... yeah, thanks for listening" Keith said with a blush in his face.

Lance got back and turned around his head, his cheeks feeling on fire "Heh, yeah, yeah, anytime!" He said nervous and pretended to watch a clock on his wrist "Look at the hour! I should go to take a bath".

Both stood up from a jump.

"And I should change my clothes" Keith said and bolted to the door followed by Lance.

Both went on separate ways. Lance walked fast to his room, not caring about his wet clothes a bit. He opened the door with a hit on the pad and let himself fall into the bed.

"I. Almost. Kissed. Keith" He said to himself "I ALMOST KISSED KEITH!" All his face was now red.

Why he wanted to kiss Keith?.

Lance didn't knew the answer, was he in love with Keith?. He wasn't going to deny that he always thought that Keith was kinda cute, but a KISS!?.

How was he going to face Keith now?. Obviously Keith noticed that Lance wanted to kiss him, that's why he backed away clearing his throat.

"Shit!" He pressed his face against the pillow, only by thinking on Keith's face he couldn't help but to blush.

Lance... had an official crush on Keith.

 

<><><>

 

Keith was now on his room changing his wet clothes, not really focusing on his task.

Lance wanted to kiss him? He asked himself over and over again.

"Damnit!" He punched the wall "Why the hell did I back away!?".

Keith liked Lance since a long time ago, he remembered when he met him that day when saving Shiro, that smile, that blue eyes. He find him attractive in many ways, but of curse, he wasn't going to let his stupid crush get on his way. After a time, his crush for Lance started to banish, he accepted the fact that Lance was never going to reciprocate his feeling for him. But when Lance told him that he was bi, his hopes raised up again, maybe he still had a chance and now... the almost kiss... made him clear that MAYBE Lance liked him too.

"Stupid Lance..." He murmured.

He put his jacket on and headed to the training room, he needed to get Lance out of his thoughts. He was walking down the hallway when he heard a sob coming from Rae's room. He entered without a second thought and saw the little girl hugging her legs and crying her eyes out.

"Rae, what happened?" He kneeled beside her and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I-I dreamed they died..." She said between sobs.

"They? you mean...".

She nodded and hugged Keith's neck strongly. Keith hugged her back.

"Shh, it's okay. We're going to find them" He patted her head, he wasn't the best at comforting someone, especially about this subject.

She sniffed and continued crying, wetting his dry shirt.

"Hey" He moved softly her chin so she could face him "You wanna eat something?".

Rae shook her head "I don't want them to see me crying".

"Then how about if I bring you something?" Keith suggested.

She nodded.

Keith gave her a kiss of the forehead and headed to the kitchen to get her something to eat. He was walking through the hallway with sadnesses in all his face, Rae was going through a lot and he, probably more than anyone, understood all that she was going through, but for some reason,  he couldn't find the right words to help her.

Lance was walking to Rae's room, hands on his pockets and a scared look on his face when he saw Keith.

"Lance" Keith called.

The blue paladin blushed, he knew that Keith probably is super mad about what almost happened back on the pool.

"Keith, I'm..." He started, not daring to face him directly.

"I need you to stay with Rae while I go get her some food, she had a nightmare related to her parents" Keith interrumpted him.

He blinked a couple of times and nodded "Oh! Yeah, sure, I'll stay with her..." Lance was surprised, he was totally expecting a scold from the red paladin, but instead, he received a task from him.

Keith placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled "Thanks".

Lance mouth was agape, Keith was being nice to him even after what happened.

"Yeah, it's nothing...".

Keith left Lance alone on the hallway.

'Is this really Keith?' Lance couldn't help to ask himself.

 

<><><>

 

Lance was now at Rae's door. He knocked a couple of times.

"Rae?" He asked without response "I'm coming in, okay?".

The door opened and he saw the small girl curled around the sheets and facing the wall. Her little sobs broke Lance heart, he approached her slowly and touched her head.

"Shh, it's okay" He whispered.

"I want mommy and daddy, Lance" She cried.

He sat beside her in her bed and hugged her "I know. I miss mine too, you know?".

"You do?".

"Everyday" He kept hugging her "When i miss them, I sing to myself a song my mom thought me for when I had nightmares or bad days".

"My mom used to sing too" She added.

"It's a very efficient mom trick" He snorted and brushed her hair.

"Lance..." She hugged him even tighter and let out another sob.

"Yes?".

"Could you sing the song?".

Lance nodded "Of course".

"Thanks".

Lance kept hugging her and cleared his throat:

 _"Here we go... come with me..."_ He started singing.

_"There's a world out there that we should see..."._

Rae's tears falled into Lance jacket, but he didn't mind at all.

_"Take my hand... close your eyes..."._

He closed his eyes and gave her a kiss on the head.

_"Cause with you here, I'm a rocketeer"._

The door opened silently as always, Keith saw how Lance was hugging Rae and heard the song that he was singing to her. He smiled and observed them quietly from the door frame.

 _"Oh... let's fly-ah-ah-ah, up here we go..."_ Lance kept singing.

Keith noticed that Lance had a really beautiful voice, he actually enjoyed hearing it, it was soothing and delicate.

 _"Oh... let's fly-ah-ah-ah..."_ Lance broke the hug and faced her bright blue eyes, he placed his finger on his lips _"Whooooosh..."_ He ended the song.

Rae whipped away her tears "You have a very beautiful voice".

Keith didn't wanted to interrumpted them, so he took a step back and waited outside.

Lance heard the door closing "Thank you" He gave her another kiss on the forehead "Try to sleep, its very early".

"Ok".

He got up and decided to go outside. Keith was leaning against the wall with a smile on his face.

"Hey" Lance said, still a bit akwardly by the past events.

"Hey" Keith faced him "How is she?".

"Better, I hope. She went back to sleep".

"Good, I couldn't find anything to eat".

Lance snorted "Serioulsy?".

"The kitchen is not my area".

"Wow, I finally discovered one of Keith Kogane weakness!".

Keith snorted "Yeah, yeah, I'm bad at the kitchen".

"Ha! I knew you had your weak points".

"Everyone has their weak points, Lance" Keith grinned "...And our strong ones, am I right?".

Lance saw his evilish grin "What are you plotting?".

Keith brushed him off with his hand and started walking away "Oh, nothing...".

"Keith what are you talking about?" Lance asked a bit worried.

Keith crossed his arms and grinned once again at Lance "You know... singing".

Lance blushed, words weren't coming out of his mouth "Eh... I...".

Keith laughed and left the blue paladin totally alone with his embarrassment.

"Shit..." Lance murmured and then laughed "Just making me fall harder for you everyday, right Keith?" He whispered to himself.

Lance was now more lost in Keith's land, but for once in all this time he spent with the red paladin, he was happy for being lost in that land... Keith's beautiful land...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Lance sings is:  
> Rocketeer cover by Clara C....


	4. Trust your feelings

Everyone was now sitting on the table eating breakfast. Rae was calmer when she waked up again a couple of hour later. Lance was sitting in his usual spot beside Keith, even thought he still felt a bit embarrassed of almost kissing the red paladin.

"How's the search going?" Shiro asked, taking a sip of what maybe is Altean coffe.

Rae lifted her head at the question.

"Pidge says she's almost there. She hasn't move her eyes off the computer all this days" Hunk answered.

"But she's going to find them, right?" Rae asked with a certain fear on her face.

Lance was sitting beside her, so he patted her head and smiled "Of course she is!".

Keith nodded to that, giving Rea a bit more of reassurance. Shiro smiled at her too and snorted.

"I see you three are very united, huh?" He asked glancing at Lance, Keith and Rae.

Hunk giggled "Like a little family".

"Keith says that you all are my family now too!" Rae exclaimed.

"Aaaaw, Keith..." Hunk said.

"You're such a softie dude" Lance added.

This time Shiro laughed "Keith has a great point, you're part of the family now Rae".

Keith blushed from embarrassment "Yeah...".

"Paladins! To the bridge now!" Coran announced through the comms.

By his urgent voice tone, everyone got onto their feet in less than a second.

"Hunk, could you please take Rae to her room?" Shiro ordered.

Hunk nodded and grabbed the little girl hand.

"But I want to go too!" She complained.

Keith got to his knees in front of her "Go with Hunk, everything will be fine".

"But...".

Keith placed his hand on her shoulder "Please, Rae".

She nodded and grabbed Hunk's hand, the yellow paladin nodded at them and guided the girl outside the dinning room. Shiro looked at Keith and Lance urgently.

"I told Coran to inform us if they found anything about her parents" He said.

"That's why you sent her to her room?" Lance asked.

Shiro nodded "Let's go, there's no time to waste!".

The three paladins runned to the bridge. Lance laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Keith asked annoyed.

"I missed this!".

"Huh?".

"This emergency call through the comms!".

"Yeah well, that's because this isn't something related with the empire attacking the ship and us going out to form Voltron and risk our lives".

"Aaaaw Keith! Don't ruin the moment...".

"Keith, Lance, focus!" Shiro snapped.

"Why did you left Rae with Hunk and not one of us?" Keith asked.

"Because I wanted you both here, in case something comes up with her family, only you two seem to now how to approach her correctly".

"Are you implying something bad is going to happened?" Lance asked.

"Let's not cross that line yet" Shiro added.

The bridge door opened. Allura was pointing something on the screen alongside Coran and Pidge.

"There you are!" Coran said.

The three approach to them, panting from the running.

"What happened?" Shiro asked.

Pidge sighed "We found them".

Keith and Lance turned to look at each other with smiles in their faces.

"Then lets get them back!" Lance exclaimed with excitement in his voice, he really was happy for the news.

"Pffft! Already on it" Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, it was like her badass facet.

Allura opened another screen that showed the interior of a rebel ship. There was a couple of aliens in it.

"How's the mission going?" Allura's asked politely.

One of the Aline's turned his attention to them "We're close, princess".

"Just a couple of Vargas away" Another one added.

"Thank you so much for your help" Allura thanked.

The alien nodded "Anything for the paladins of Voltron and their beautiful princess" He winked at her. Allura noticed the action and cleared her throat uncomfortable.

"Yes... thank you..." She backed up a bit.

"Is Matt with you?" Pidge asked.

"Not today, he had another mission".

Shiro stepped up "Thank you for your help. Please let us now if something comes up".

"We'll communicate with you when the time comes" Coran turned off the screen. Everyone released a big breath that they've been holding all this time.

Lance slumped on his chair like a rag doll "What a trip...".

Pidge slumped in her chair too and yawned "Totally...".

"We're not finished yet. Until Rae's family reunites, we can't let our guards down" Keith crossed his arms, worry still on his face.

Shiro noticed that and placed his hand on the younger boy shoulder "You're right, but we should also relax a bit. This last days have been stressful for all of us" He turned to look at Pidge "Nice work Pidge, go to rest".

Pidge got up from her chair and stretched herself with a yawn "This was nothing" She took off her glasses and brushed her eyes "But I'm hungry, so I'll go eat something".

"I'll go with you!" Lance jumped from his chair.

Pidge and Alnce left the bridge. Allura and Coran seemed busy talking about some things they should improved and repair from the castle. Shiro was still beside Keith, he saw how the red paladin still seemed tense, something was definitely bothering.

"Keith".

Keith glanced at him.

"Are you okay?".

Keith turned around, facing the ground and not answering the question. He sighed and closed his eyes briefly "Shiro..." He shook his head "I have a bad feeling".

Shiro eyebrow furrowed "What do you mean?" He was now worried about Keith even more.

"I don't know... it's like if something was telling me to not lower my guard, like if something... is going to go wrong".

"You mean with Rae's parents?".

Keith nodded "Yeah".

Shiro turned around to look at Coran and Allura "Coran" He called and the older man looked at him.

"Yes?".

"How far are we from Rae's parents?".

"Mmm" He move to the closet computer and typed on it "About..." He continued typing "Almost a day".

"That's why we asked help to the rebels, they're way closer than us right now" Allura pointed.

"Is there a way we can get closer?" Keith asked this time unfolding his arms.

"We could open a wormhole, but the distance and the poor condition of the teludav in this moment might not be the best option considering the long distance" Coran played with his mustache.

Keith groaned and crossed his arms once again.

Shiro looked at the frustration in his actions "Is there any other way to get closer?".

"Hmm" Allura paced around "Maybe we could open a wormhole for a lion?" She suggested.

"That might work" Coran concord.

Keith's eyes light up "Let's do it then!".

"Forgive me for interrupting your excitement but... why the urgency?" The princess asked.

"Keith has a bad feeling about all of this" Shiro answered for him.

Coran's mouth dropped "You mean that we're risking the teludav to collapse beacuse of a feeling!?" He shouted in confusion.

"Listen to me" Shiro try to lighten up Coran's worry "Keith is very sensible to this things, I don't have a logical explanation but he has a bad feeling, it's kind of alarming".

Allura gave a big breath "Keith".

Keith look up at her.

"Are you sure about this?".

He nodded "Yes, I'm sure".

"Very well" She looked at Coran and nodded "Coran, get ready a wormhole to the rebel ship coordinates".

"Are you sure princess?".

"No, I'm not, but I'm not risking it".

Coran started typing in the computer "I'm preparing the coordinates".

"Keith, go get ready" Shiro ordered.

The red paladin didn't wasted a second and runned out of the bridge. Shiro looked back at Allura.

"Call Lance please".

The princess nodded and obeyed Shiro's orders.

 

<><><>

 

Lance was eating with Hunk, Pidge and Rae on the dinning room. He already had told Rae about the good news, the little girl couldn't help but to jump from happiness and even hug Lance, Pidge and Hunk in the process.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cried.

Lance carried her in his arms and started spinning, he loved seeing her this happy, not like last night with her face full of tears and sobs.

"Are you excited?".

"Yes!".

Pidge was eating her goo, laughing at how good Lance was with kids, she patted Hunk's arm to get his attention.

"I think Lance would be a good dad" She whispered.

Hunk nodded "And you know who would be a great dad too?".

"Keith, obviously".

"So then that means...".

"Klance?".

Hunk snorted "Klance" He agreed.

Both paladins laughed and keep observing how the blue paladin was so good with the little alien girl, how he carried her like if it was his child. It made the yellow and green paladin hearts fuzzy.

Lance let down Rae, still with a big smile on his face. 

" _Lance, come to the bridge please"_ Allura called through the castle comms.

Lance heard the announce and started to get a bit worried "I'll be right back" He said trying to hide the bad feeling he was having in the moment. Rae nodded to that and Lance took that as a sign for him to leave directly to the bridge.

The bridge door opened and he stormed inside. Allura, Shiro and Coran were there looking all serious. 

"I'm here. What happened?" He was tense, very tense.

Shiro placed his hand on Lance shoulder "Don't worry, everything's okay".

He released the tension "That's a relief".

"I want you to go with Keith to rescue Rae's parents" Shiro commanded.

His confusion was showing in his whole expression "Huh? What about the rebels?".

"Keith was stressed about the mission, so he's going to go give support with the red lion".

Lance didn't need another word. He nodded "Alright, i'll to change!".

"Hurry up, Allura and Coran will prepare the teludav for opening the wormhole".

Lance left to obey the orders. Shiro observed him with a smile, he was proud of the paladins.

"Are you sure that we should send Keith and Lance together?" Allura asked.

"Yes" Shiro reassured "They make a good team".

 

<><><>

 

A couple of minutes later Keith and Lance were all suit up and ready on the bridge. Coran was typing like crazy on the computer, while Allura and Shiro explained the paladins what their task is.

"We'll open the wormhole at a close distance to the Galra ship. It would take you approximately 2 Vargas to get to the place" Allura instructed "You'll arrive in time with the rebels".

"We already talked with the rebels. You'll stay hidden with one of the invisible uprgrades I asked Pidge apply to the red lion" Shiro pointed "Only if the rebels give you the sign you'll attack the Galra ship, if they don't give you the command, you'll stay hidden" He ordered mostly to Keith impulsive side.

"Why aren't we opening the wormhole closer to the Galra ship?" Lance asked.

Coran turned around "First, that will blow your cover. Second, the teludav is not in conditions to open a wormhole on such a far location".

Keith sighed "Let's just finish this".

Shiro nodded "Get to the lion and tell us when you're ready so we can open the wormhole".

The red and blue paladin didn't waste a second and headed to the red lion hangar. Lance noticed that Keith looked extremely tense, he gave him a pat on the back and smiled at him.

"Hey, don't worry. Everything will come out right".

Keith looked to the ground, not convinced by the words "Yeah... thanks".

Pidge was still giving the last touches to the Red lion new upgrade, she was typing on her laptop and disconnecting some cables.

"And... ready!" She gave a pat to the red lion metallic paw "A new uprgrade for the red kitty".

"Thanks Pidge" Keith also gave a pat to his lion and it responded with a soft purr. The red lion felt how preoccupied her paladin was feeling, she tried tried comforting Keith. 

 _"Don't worry my paladin, we'll make sure everything goes fine"_ She said to his mind.

"Thanks Red" He mumbled.

Podge notice that and whispered to Lance ear "Is he talking with his lion?".

"We all talk with our lions, Pidge".

"Good point" She walked to Keith and offered him a smile "I installed a button on the cockpit, press it when you want to activate the invisibility".

"Got it, thanks" He smiled back at her “Let’s go, Lance”.

”Yes sir!” 

The paladins entered the cockpit, Keith sat on his lion chair and the lion responded “Good girl” He whispered.

Lance was behind the chair observing Keith “So you do talk with your lion”.

Keith ignored him and pressed the comms button, Shiro’s face appeared on the screen “ _You have everything ready?”_ He asked.

The red paladin nodded “Yes, we’re ready”.

” _Ok, We’re opening the wormhole”_ The screen disappeared and Keith grabbed the lion controls.

The red lion flew out of her hangar extremely fast, Lance had his hand gripped on the chair like if it was his only life support. The wormhole opened in front of them, Red entered and they initiated their travel. Keith pressed a few buttons and then relaxed on his sit.

”I put her on autopilot to the coordinates. We should be arriving in one or two hours approximately”.

Lance leaned against the wall on the back of the lion “Great. I guess the only thing left to do is wait”.

”Yeah”.

The cockpit stayed in complete silence. Keith didn’t seemed uncomfortable but Lance hated this kind of silence, so obviously, he decided to break it and get the red paladin and him in some kind of conversation.

”So... why did you wanted to do this so badly?” Lance asked observing his teammate.

Keith didn’t observe him but answered “I just want to make sure everything comes out fine”.

”You have such a low confidence?” Lance snorted.

”No, it’s just that...” He sighed and stood up from the chair “I don’t want this to fail”.

”That means you don’t trust the rebels to do it right”.

He faced Lance ”No! I do, but I just want this to reallly succeed!”.

“Then trust the rebels!”.

”I do!” Keith argued.

”No, you don’t!”.

”I said I do!”.

Lance stood up from a jump “That’s a lie, you don’t!”.

Keith groaned “Shut up Lance, you don’t know absolutely anything about me!” He shouted “SO. JUST. SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!”.

”You shut the fuck up Keith! How do you expect me to understand you if you always close yourself!?” Lance sighed “I want to understand you Keith, but you just won’t let me inside of your fucking circle like everyone else!”.

“No one is inside my circle Lance! NO ONE, NOT EVEN SHIRO!” Keith shouted, his voice cracking a bit at the end “No one...”.

Lance noticed that “Keith...” he tried to touch his shoulder, only to be stopped by Keith’s hand.

”Don’t, just, don’t” Keith let himself fall to the ground covering his face.

Lance didn’t knew what to do, he just broke down Keith thanks to his comments. He kneeled in front of his partner and without a second thought... he embrace him. Keith flinched at the beginning, clearly not wanting Lance to touch him. But Lance didn’t let go.

”I’m not letting you go until you talk to me”.

Keith stopped fighting, a tear came out of his eye “Lance...”.

“I know I’ve said this thousand of times, but I’ll repeat it a million times if it’s necessary...” Lance hugged him stronger “I care about you Keith, I want you to be fine, I want you to let me help you with anything you might be suffering with”.

He pushed Keith a bit so he could see his face. Keith was now crying openly, his beautiful violet eyes now red from the awful tears coming out of them. Lance placed his forehead in Keith’s forehead.

”Please Keith... let me help you” He begged.

Keith let out a sob and closed his eyes “I can’t...”.

”Why...”.

”I don’t want to hurt you Lance. I would never forgive me...”.

Lance opened his eyes and wiped away some of the tears on Keith’s face “You won’t, I promise”.

Keith shook his head but without separating his forehead of Lance’s “I just don’t get it, why would you help me?” Another tear “I’m temperamental, antisocial, rude, hot-headed...”.

Lance placed his finger on Keith’s lips “Yeah, but under all of that, there’s a brave, kind, funny, amazing, extraordinary...” He looked in the eyes to Keith “Beautiful... person”.

Keith’s eyes opened in surprise “Lance...”.

Lance placed one hand on Keith’s cheek and got closer. Keith didn’t back up this time, he got closer, letting himself fall into Lance soft touch. Lance observed more closely Keith’s mesmerizing violet eyes and his pinkish lips.

Keith was hypnotized by Lance blue bright eyes and his stupid beautiful lips he loves to observe everyday alongside his precious smiles.

Both close their eyes, feeling their warm breaths closer with every second. Keith placed his hand on Lance waist. Lance felt the action and let himself fall into the moment, their lips were just about inches of touching, until Keith backed away once again “We-we should focus on the mission...” He let go of Lance and got back to his chair. Lance sighed but didn’t pushed the subject further. 

”Keith...” Lance got behind Keith’s chair “When are we going to come out with our feelings?”. 

“What do you mean?”.

”We were inches apart from kissing!” Lance shouted “I...”.

Shiro’s face appeared suddenly on the screen, interrumpting Lance.

 _”Hello?”_ Shiro asked looking confused by the annoyed expression on the blue paladin.

Keith cleared his throat “Yeah, we’re here”.

” _Everything okay?”._

“Eh, we...” Keith started only to be interrupted rudely by Lance.

”We’re fine. What happened?” Lance asked with a harsh voice tone.

Shiro didn’t seem convinced, but he still went straight to the point  _“Activate the invisibility and turn on the propulsors, that way you’ll reach the destination in just a couple of minutes”._

“Is it safe?” Lance asked, getting closer to the screen.

_“Yeah, don’t worry. You’re almost out of the wormhole”._

“Alight then” Keith started tapping buttons “We’ll let you know when we’re out”.

 _“Copied”_ The screen turned off.

”You might wanna secure yourself for this” Keith pointed.

Lance obeyed and grabbed the pilot chair once again, observing in silence how Keith started to press buttons on the lion controls.

”We have to finish that conversation, you know?” Lance said serious. 

”Let’s just focus on the mission for now”.

”Alright”. 


	5. I’m sorry...

The red lion was flying at maximum speed trough the wormhole. Inside the cockpit an akward silence took the scene, Keith seem extremely focused on his task when in reality his mind was drifting through thousand of thoughts: Lance wanted to kiss him again, he backed away, why did you back away!? NO, focus on the mission Keith!

Lance on the other hand was pretending to be looking at the space outside the red lion, but just like Keith, his mind was in a totally different place. He glanced occasionally at Keith: why did he back up again? Does he like me? Am I... just being stupid?

The wormhole came to and end, Keith activated the invisibility cloak and slowed down, the Galra ship was nearby, but he made sure to be at a distance where they couldn’t detect them. He sighed and relaxed on his sit.

 _“You guys already there?”_ Shiro asked suddenly through the comms.

”Yeah, we’re here” Keith answered “Where are the rebels?”.

_“Just a couple of ticks away. Stay put unless—”._

“They give us the signal. We got it Shiro” Lance interrumpted.

Shiro simply nodded and the screen with his face disappeared.

The akward silence came back.

“Ok so... how long are we going to ignore the subject?” Lance started talking, he tried to show confidence but the truth was that he was scared as hell to bring up the subject.

”I don’t want to get into that right now Lance. I’m super stressed already” Keith answered trying to avoid the subject.

”Pfft, you think I’m not!?” He walked to be in front of Keith “Look, Let’s just clarify some things and that’s it. Let’s get rid of the excess of stress”.

Keith sighed “Alright”.

Lance took a deep breath ‘Here goes nothing...’ He cleared his throat “Keith, ever since all of this started I—“.

The comms turned on, interrumpting Lance in the middle of his speech  _“Paladins, we’re here already, please stay alert in case we need support” One of the rebels said._

Keith got back to his firm position on the chair “Copy that”.

The screen disappeared and Keith typed on the computer of the red lion some commands “Let’s stay alert like they said”.

Lance nodded, even though he wanted to tell so many things to Keith and this was the best moment ever since they were alone, he couldn’t risk distracting Keith and himself with this conversation and in the process failing the mission to retrieve Rae’s parents.

”What about the other prisioners?” Keith asked suddenly.

”Huh?” Lance hadn’t thought about that small detail “I... I don’t know”.

Keith typed once again and Shiro’s face appeared on the screen _“Everything okay?”._

“The other prisioners, what about them?” Keith asked worried.

” _Don’t worry, we talked to the rebels”_ Allura’s added _“They said that they would send a smaller fleet earlier to help us retrieve Rae’s parents before than scheduled and then they would send the bigger fleet to free every prisioner”._

 _”Like she said”_ Shiro reassured.

”Alright, thanks” Keith said with relief.

 _“Keith... relax”_ Shiro pointed _“You have to calm down, everything is going to come out fine”._

“I know, thanks” He closed the communication link.

That’s when Lance noticed how tense Keith actually looked, his hand were griped hardly on the lion controls and his eyebrows were furrowed, also he had big bags under his eyes. He placed his hand on the red paladin shoulder.

”Don’t worry, if anything happens we’re here” He tried to comfort his... friend.

”I know, I’ll... try to relax a bit and let things happen”.

Lance nodded and gave one last squish to Keith’s shoulder.

 _“We’re getting in. We’ll disconnect our comms until we get out to avoid being detected”_ One of the rebels said _“Give us 15 minutes”._

“Copy that” Lance said and the comms turned off.

The mission had officially started, and both paladins were nervous as hell.

 

<><><>

 

The minutes passed, Keith was shaking his leg in sign of his nervousness, Lance couldn’t understand what made Keith so nervous, the mission was being a success so far. 

“It’s been 10 minutes” Keith said without taking his eyes off the Galra ship.

”They said 15, give it more time” Lance pointed.

Keith sighed and started massaging his temples. Lance noticed that and decided to give a pat on the shoulder to his partner “Don’t worry, just chill a bit” Lance didn’t knew what he was doing, but he followed his instincts and hugged Keith from behind. 

The red paladin went still with the action, Lance was more than ready to get scowled by him. But in return, Keith placed his hand on top of Lance’s, the blue paladin had his arms surrounding Keith’s neck, to give the final touch, he placed his head on top of Keith’s, feeling his soft hair underneath his chin and perceiving the sweet smell coming from it. 

“Lance, there’s something you need to know—” Keith started when the alarm went off.

Both paladins jumped from their place.

 _“Paladins, we have a sentry on our tail! Be prepared to attack as soon as we go out!”_ The rebel commanded.

”We’re ready!” Keith shouted and placed his hand on the lion controls, more than ready to fly away when its necessary. Lance grabbed the back of his chair with a strong grip. 

Minutes that felt like hours passed, Lance felt his hand sweating from the stress. Finally, the two rebels came out of the ship on their way smaller ship, there was indeed two Galra ships following them. Keith didn’t waste a second and rushed in to attack the robotic ships, he shoot them fiercely, Lance never saw him this angry or desperate while on his lion.

Just as the two ships exploded, three more appeared out of nowhere.

”Shit...” Keith mumbled.

 _“Paladins, we need a clear path, our ships doesn’t possess weapons and its armor might now resist so many attacks at once!”_  The rebel shouted desperate.

Lance managed to see behind the rebel, two aliens very similar to Rae ‘It’s them...’ He thought and got serious with his new motivation, he needed to take those two parents to their child “We’re on it!” Lance exclaimed and saw how the mother got closer to the screen, she looked almost exactly as Rae, except that her hair was less red and her eyes were a deeper blue.

 _“Is my daughter Rae Okay?”_ She asked with worry, the father placed his hand on her shoulder trying to reassure her. He had the same eye color as Rae, electric blue. 

Lance smiled and nodded to them “She’s perfect, we’re all taking great care of her in the castle”.

 _“Thank the stars”_ The father said releasing a big breath.

The mother shed a few tears _“Thank you, paladins of Voltron. Thank you for saving our daughter, we’ll always be in great debt with you”._

“There’s no need to thank us, this is what we do” Lance added.

The lion received a hard hit on the side that shook the entire ship.

“Jaw blade!” Keith shouted and the lion summoned the weapon. He flew at maximum speed in direction to the Galra ships.

Another communication link opened _“How’s everything doing?”_ Shiro asked.

”We’re kinda busy right now, but so far so good” Lance answered since Keith seemed to focused on destroying the sentries.

_“I’ll leave this link open in case something comes up”._

“Yeah, will—“ Keith accelerated even more and caused Lance to fall akwardly on his butt “Ow...”.

_“Lance?”._

“I’m fine, I’m fine” He said even thought that actually hurt (his pride more than anything), he heard a cute giggle on the back, Rae’s one.

Keith cut trough the ships like paper, he cracked a tiny smile on sign of his successful achievement “Two out, one to go”.

The rebels were avoiding the attacks of the only sentrie left. 

Lance saw a weak point on the ship “Throw the blade to the cannon!” He pointed.

Keith nodded and threw with the lion mouth the dagger, in matter of second it hit its target and the ship exploded, only leaving some unnecessary debris on the way.

 _“Thanks paladins”_ The rebel thanked _“We’re now setting course to the castle of lions”._

“Copy that, see you in a—“ Keith was about to say when his eyes went wide open “WATCH OUT!” He screamed but was too late. The main Galra ship shoot a purple bean from its ion canon in direction to the rebels. The light was blinding, they closed their eyes and only heard the explosion trough the comms alongside a sobbing scream.

”No...”.

 

<><><>

 

**(A couple of minutes earlier)**

 

”I bet you’re super excited to see your parents!” Hunk said with excitement while guiding Rae to the bridge. Shiro had commanded them to come to the bridge so they could receive her parents.

Rae was jumping no stop “Yes! I have so many things to tell them!”.

”I bet they have lots of things to tell you too” The yellow paladin smiled.

The reached the bridge door, Hunk opened it and Rae stormed inside like a lightning, she was truly excited and close to blowing up of happiness “Are my parents on their way?” She asked to Shiro.

Shiro left what he was doing on the computer and smiled “Yes they are. The rebels, Keith and Lance will bring them safe and sound”.

”Maybe we could contact them?” Allura suggested.

”Already on it princess!” Coran added and opened a communication link with the red lion.

Keith seemed extremely focused on what he was doing while Lance was behind him observing.

”How’s everything doing?” Shiro asked.

” _We’re kinda busy right now, but so far so good”_ Lance answered with a smile.

“I’ll leave this link open in case something comes up” Shiro said.

 _“Yeah, will—”_ Lance suddenly disappeared of the screen just as the lion seemed to shake harder.

”Lance?”.

 _“Ow... I’m fine, I’m fine”_ The blue paladin answered a bit embarrassed.

Rae giggled at that. Shiro smiled to her and pointed his chair in the middle of the room “Come sit here, you’ll be able to see everything from this spot”.

Rae runned to the chair, her feet were left hanging, but she seemed happy and that was more than enough for Shiro.

 _“Throw the blade to the canon!”_ Lance shouted.

Rae felt nervous, she squished the chair with sweaty hands trying to remain calm.

Something exploded on the distance, she saw Keith’s small smile on his face and felt relieved, everything was going according to the plan.

Pidge was on her sit too, she seemed really focused on te screen in front of her, the mission was being extremely stressful for all of them. 

“They’re almost here!” Hunk said with excitement.

Shiro nodded “Just in a couple of Vargas you’ll be able to see them once again”.

Rae felt tears forming in her eyes “Thanks...”.

” _We’re now setting course to the castle of lions”_ One of the rebels said.

This was it, she was so close to see her parents once again after this few days, Rae couldn’t be more grateful. She was going to go back home with her family and start working on repairing their house, continue living normally, she missed that, but mostly her family, she really just wanted to be able to hug her parents and never let them go again.

 _“WATCH OUT!”_ Keith screamed and got her out of her thoughts, a blinding light filled the screen and a explosion came with it.

Rae knew what that meant, she screamed with the tears already coming out of her eyes “MOM, DAD!” She shouted and started to sob on her knees “No...” She was hugging herself, shaking, not paying attention to her surroundings.

”Hunk, take Rae out of here!” Shiro shouted.

She felt herself being lifted up and someone patting her back while saying the words “I’m sorry...” She then realized she was being taken away, she started fighting against the person holding her while she kept crying non stop.

”NO! I WANT MOM AND DAD, I WANT MOM AND DAD!” She cried.

 

<><><>

 

Lance heard the heartbreaking scream, he knew it was Rae, he turned off the comms as fast as he could so she couldn’t see the scene in front of their eyes. He felt his own tears falling out of his eyes, they were too late, they couldn’t protect them in time...

He saw Keith still in shock, searching with his eyes for something in all the debris. It was useless, the ion canon vaporized mostly everything except some hard metals of the ship, there were only debris flying in open space.

Keith noticed it too and buried his face in his hands, a sob came out of his mouth.

Lance got on his knees in front of Keith and embraced him, the red paladin was now crying on his shoulder “Shh, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay...” Tears falled from his eyes too. 

They failed.

A wormhole opened in front of them, the red lion entered by herself, probably because she felt her paladin distress.

Keith didn’t said anything, he just continued crying his eyes out, he felt guilty for not being able to help the rebels and the parents.

Lance brushed his hair “Shh, calm down” He tried comforting his partner.

“We were so close Lance..”

As soon as the red lion entered the hangar, Keith bolted out of his seat without looking at Lance. The blue paladin went on full panic mode “Keith!” He shouted and followed him.

He got to the bridge where everyone was waiting “Have you seen Keith!?” He asked panicked.

“Lance we saw what happened, we just wanted to say that—“ Allura got cutoff by Lance “Thanks but right now I have to find Keith o-or Rae!” He stormed once again, this time in direction to Rae’s room. 

“Lance, wait!” Shiro run behind him “You need to calm down!”.

”I can’t calm down Shiro, Rae just saw her parents die in front of her eyes and Keith broke down in the middle of the action!” He kept running without facing the black paladin, right now his priority was to find Keith and Rae.

They came across Hunk on the hallway he had a distressed face, he saw how Lance was approaching so he placed his hand on his friend shoulder “Wait”.

”Hunk, not right now I—“.

Hunk hugged him “I’m sorry buddy, I-i just wanted to say that it’s not your fault or Keith’s, you just—“ He started crying “You did what you could”.

Lance felt the tears forming in his eyes once again, he hugged back his friend “I know, I know...”.

Shiro patted their shoulders “Have you seen Keith?” He asked to the yellow paladin.

Hunk nodded “He came to Rae’s bedroom all panicked, I couldn’t say anything before he rushed in to hug her. So I just left them alone”.

”I-I have to go with them” Lance cleaned the tears in his cheeks.

Shiro shook his head “No, leave them alone for now. Trust me, Keith can handle it”.

”But...”.

”Let’s go to the bridge to inform everyone what just happened” Shiro commanded with a hint of sadness in his voice “Today wasn’t our day”.

Lance nodded “Yeah, I-i know”.

Hunk gave one last pat on the shoulder to his friend “I’ll go prepare something to eat for Rae, she’ll probably get hungry later”.

Lance smiled “Good idea” He tried to show he was fine, when in reality he just wanted to hide in his bedroom and cry his eyes out what just happened, they couldn’t save Rae’s parents, they simply couldn’t and now...

Rae is alone...

Or maybe... no.

 

<><><>

 

Keith didn’t knew what he was doing. As soon as the red lion placed her metallic paws on the hangar he got off the ship and rushed straight to Rae’s room.

”Keith!” He heard Lance shout but ignored it, he needed to help Rae. He knew how she was feeling.

He stormed through the hallways until he reached the girl room. He entered without even knocking and saw her crying on her knees with Hunk trying to comfort her. Keith didn’t doubt it for a second and threw himself to the ground with her, surrounding her with protective arms. He heard the door close behind him, not really paying attention to it.

”I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Rae...” He whispered through tears “We-I couldn’t save them”.

Rae was sobbing in his arms, tears and screams coming out of her “MOM, DAD!” She kept shouting and Keith only embraced her harder, his tears now falling from his indigo eyes.

They stayed like that for minutes, hours maybe, he couldn’t know. Right now the only thing he could focus was the girl crying in his arms.

Keith managed to calm himself down a bit, he rubbed circles in her back “How about if we get you to bed?” He suggested.

Rae nodded slightly and he lift her easily on his arms, placing her softly on her bed. She immediately curled on the corner, still crying.

Keith brushed her hair “I’m sorry, I-i know this must be hard” Words weren’t his thing “I-I went trough something similar when I was smaller and I know it’s hard”.

Rae faced him with her red puffy eyes “w-what?” She asked with a tiny scared voice.

Keith smiled and brushed her hair out of her face “Remember when I told you I never met my mother?” He asked trying to contain the tears.

She nodded still crying.

”I never knew anything about her, my dad was very reserved with the subject. I tried to research on my own once, I was about 5 years old in that time” He chuckled “I found this dagger in a box” He took out the dagger from his belt and showed it to Rae “When my dad found out he knew that keeping secrets from me wasn’t going to do me any good. That afternoon he tried to explain me, saying that mom was traveling trough the Stars right now, always looking after me from far far away, in that moment I didn’t understood what he meant so I just ignored it” He swallowed trying to contain the tears “A couple of weeks later he died on a car accident and in that moment I actually realized... that i was alone” A tear leaved his eye “I finally understood what he meant with what he said about mom, he meant that she was gone, that she wasn’t going to return”.

Rae sob one more time and hugged Keith harder.

”I didn’t have more familiars, so I was left on an orphanage for almost 5 years until a family took me in” He laughed trough tears “I was so rebel in that moment that they returned me a week later”.

He continue rubbing circles on her back “A couple of months ago I received the news that I was half Galra. What my dad meant was literal, my mom was on the stars, probably traveling trough the galaxies” He pushed her slightly so he could face her eyes “But what I’m trying to go with all of this is that, unlike me, you are not alone Rae” He hugged her strongly again “You have Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran, Lance and me with you” A tear came out “A-and even if we aren’t blood related, even if we are probably really different from your family... we want you to know that we’re here for you, that we... are your new family...”.

She sobbed once again without saying anything. Keith gave her a kiss on the forehead “We love you Rae, I love you Rae. And I’ll make sure that anything, absolutely anything, happens to you”.

 

<><><>

 

A couple of hours passed and there still wasn’t sign of Rae or Keith. Lance was growing impatient.

”Do you think they’re okay?” He asked worried.

Pidge was sitting beside him “I-I hope so, I can’t imagine what she’s feeling right now”.

Hunk came with some plates in his hands “I prepared something for them, but I don’t want to interrumpt them”.

Lance stood up from a jump “I’ll take it to them!” He offered himself.

”Are you sure about that?” Pidge asked unsure “Maybe we should left them alone a bit more...”.

Lance took the plates from Hunk’s hands “They need to eat something and I’m sure that what Rae needs right now is support, honestly, I feel kinda useless being here waiting when I could be there comforting her with...” He thought of the tears on Keith’s face “Keith...”.

”Alright” Pidge agreed “But go easy on her”.

”I will” He assured and left in direction to Rae’s room.

He walked trough the hallways with the plates full of some food that Hunk made, it looked like goo but it wasn't goo, it was a creamy color and smelled sweet. He sighed ‘Ok Lance, you got this, just go in there and try to help with what you can’ He said to himself.

He reached the door and knocked a couple of times “Rae, Keith?” He asked. No response came from the other side of the door. He knocked once again, no response.

He wasn’t sure this was the best idea, he pressed his hand to the panel and opened the door with a silent swish. The room was dark but he managed to see Keith and Rae sleeping on her bed, Keith was on his black under armor suit, probably to be more comfortable, while Rae was hugging his back like a little child with her... parents.

Lance smiled at the view, he left the food plates on the table beside the bed and covered them with the blanket. Rae’s eyes were all puffy, Lance felt sympathy for her and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, she didn’t even move a bit, probably because she was tired of all the crying. He then looked at the peaceful red paladin sleeping too, he brushed away the bangs on his forehead and leaned down to kiss him too. 

“Goodnight” He whispered and left the room with a smile on his face.

He stood outside the door for a couple of minutes, the scene reminded him a lot to his family back on earth and that made him happy because that meant; that even in the middle of the war, the problems and the bad moments, there was still a small part that reminded him of home, this was...

”My new family...” He said to himself.

Shiro was walking to his direction, probably heading to his room, he seemed tired after all. He stopped by Lance “Hey, how are they?” He asked concerned.

”Oh, they’re okay, I hope” He chuckled “They’re sleeping so I couldn’t talk to them”.

”Yeah, they must be tired” He yawned “We’re all tired, today... wasn’t our day” He whispered and then gave a fatherly pat on the shoulder to Lance “You should go to sleep too”.

”I’ll try”.

Shiro nodded and continued his path down the hallways to his room. Lance eyes opened in sudden realization, he remembered that there was something he wanted to ask the black paladin a couple of days ago.

”Wait!” He shouted and reached the older man.

 Shiro stopped and looked at Lance with his typical worried frown “Everything okay?”.

 “I have a quick question”.

”Alright, go ahead” Shiro conceded kindly.

”It’s about Keith...”.

”Okay...?” The black paladin was now confused.

Lance scratched the back of his head “I hope this isn’t an invasion of privacy or something like that...”.

”Eh... okay?” Shiro was now VERY confused “Just ask it”.

Lance gave a deep breath “Is Keith...” He swallowed nervously “An orphan?”.

Shiro’s eyes opened in surprise, he blinked a couple of times “Why you ask?”.

”I have a theory of why he was acting so distant a couple of day ago and it has a lot to do with that”.

Shiro sighed “Listen. Keith doesn’t like people to invade his privacy, there’s only VERY few people that he trusts with family subjects”.

Lance nodded “I see”.

”But-“ Shiro added “I will answer that question”.

”Huh?”.

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder “I believe in you Lance, I believe that you could be that friend and confident that Keith desperately needs” He sighed “Since I became the leader of Voltron, I haven’t been able to talk and be there for Keith as much as before. But you...” He chuckled “You can be a great friend for him, someone he can trust and talk to”.

”A-re you serious!?” Lance exclaimed “Shiro, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re like oil and water. We fight all the time!”.

”Don’t you have feelings for him?”.

”Yeah, I mean of course I do but-“ He open his eyes to the sudden realization and blushed “Please don’t tell Keith”.

Shiro giggled “Of course not”.

”T-thanks”.

”So then, what do you say? Are you going to be Keith’s new friend?”.

Lance hated the word “friend” he obviously liked Keith a lot and even Shiro knew it. But the black paladin knew way better Keith than himself, so maybe... he was plotting something that the blue one couldn’t see. The only certainty he had was that he needed to become Keith’s friend, no matter the cost, the tears and even the blood it might take (such a drama queen). 

Lance nodded “I will”.

Shiro nodded “Then yes, Keith is and orphan. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask him directly”.

”Thanks Shiro”.

The black paladin smiled and continued his path to his room “Good night Lance”.

”Night Shiro”.

Lance stood outside Rae’s for a couple of second, inside there were two people who desperately needed his support and of course he was going to give it to them.

Step number 1: Become Keith’s friend.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like the fic, English is not my first language so don't be afraid to leave your comments with corrections (please don't be to harsh).
> 
> Thanks for reading!.
> 
> This is my tumblr:  
> @klanceanimatics


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